Chorale Bel Canto

Chorale Looks Forward to Exciting New Season!

As we approach the fall, I’m thrilled to write about our coming 32^nd season of exceptional performances of beautiful choral music. Our all-volunteer professional level chorale will introduce many new features this season, as we continue to enrich our greater San Gabriel Valley community through the presentation of world-class music. It’s shaping up to be an amazing year!

We’re continuing and expanding our artistic collaborations. Twenty young singers from Rio Hondo College will join us again this season, along with Rio Hondo professor Dr. Linda West Brown, our accompanist and Associate Conductor.

Our first concert, Love Songs Through the Ages, explores the myriad aspects of love as expressed by composers over five centuries, from madrigals to George Gershwin and the Beatles.

We invite you to join us at our Open Rehearsal “Friendraiser” on October 14^th at 7:30 p.m. in Arnold Hall on the Whittier College campus, 13406 E. Philadelphia St., at the corner of Painter Avenue, for mingling, munching, and a foretaste of the music of our first concert.

Christmas with Chorale Bel Canto this season centers on a major choral work, Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, and includes traditional carols and our well-loved audience sing-along.

For our third concert, we’re expanding our long-time participation in the 77^th Whittier College Bach Festival through a closer collaboration with the Whittier College Music Department. Expect to experience many new programming features as we lead up to the Festival and its major concerts: Bach’s Lunch, Bach Talk, Bach-in-a-Minute, Bach ‘n’ All, and many more!

We’ve also been invited after the Festival to reprise our performance of Bach’s Cantata BWV 11: Ascension Oratorio and Cantata BWV 80: Ein’ feste Burg as guest participants in the Bach Festival at Red Hill Lutheran Church in Tustin.

For our final concert of the season, America Sings!, we’re engaging in a new collaboration with the Claremont Chorale, under the direction of Gregory Norton. We’ll sing music by Randall Thompson, Aaron Copland, and a concert version of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with 130 singers, guest soloists, and a full orchestra at the Garrison Theatre in Claremont and at the Downey Civic Theatre.

Last, but very much not least, we’ve begun the Chorale Bel Canto Guild, under the presidential leadership of Kayana Sullivan. We invite you to join the Guild and enjoy the pleasures of an even closer relationship with the singers as well as the opportunity to assist in the presentation of our concerts.

We are proud to offer such a varied and meaningful variety of musical experiences to our audience this season, and we’re intent on increasing our communication with you. We’re very proud of our new website, and invite you to visit us at www.ChoraleBelCanto.org. We’ve expanded our online newsletter to a bi-monthly publication, and we invite you to subscribe. We’re also increasing the frequency of posts on our blog. If you’re not currently receiving email from the Chorale, please update your information with us by calling 888-640-9222 or contacting us on the web.

We look forward to seeing you at our concerts this season. You always have our deepest gratitude as a patron—you enjoy the music!

Linda de Vries

Singer and Chair of the Board of Directors