Choral Arts Cleveland to perform contemporary music concert

Martin Kessler [photo by Gayne Petranek]

Choral Arts Cleveland, directed by Heights resident Martin Kessler, aims to show its audiences that contemporary choral music is exciting, beautiful, sensual, and thoroughly appealing and accessible. On Sunday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, 13001 Cedar Road, singers and instrumentalists will present "New Music from Old Friends," a concert of contemporary choral works. The program features pieces from five living composers whose works Choral Arts has performed in recent years.

Supported in part by a grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, the program includes the North American premiere of two previously unperformed movements of Antony Pitts’ oratorio Jerusalem-Yerusalayim; movements from Bob Chilcott’s rhythmically ambitious “Making of the Drum,” a work that celebrates the drum as it is honored in African culture; pieces by Robert Cohen and Morten Lauridsen; and Requiem by William Godfree. Requiem, a jazz-influenced work, was performed two years ago by Choral Arts, and is being repeated at the request of concertgoers who heard it then.

Choral Arts Cleveland is in its 38th year of presenting concerts to Greater Cleveland audiences. Singers have performed a variety of music, including folk songs, spirituals, and smaller masterpieces by such composers as Copland, Brahms, Thompson, Rutter, Verdi, and others. Choral Arts also regularly performs larger masterworks, including the Brahms Requiem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Haydn’s Creation, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Choral Arts Cleveland’s mission is to enhance access to choral music for all segments of the community and to broaden the artistic experiences of its membership and audiences. Toward that end, Choral Arts includes in its repertoire new music, such as the Pitts oratorio, and the Cleveland premieres of Cohen’s “Alzheimer’s Stories” and “Night Cadence.” The group also regularly collaborates with high school musicians, fellow choristers and other organizations. A 2012 full-scale production, the Missa Solemnis, involved collaboration with the Suburban Symphony and three church choirs. Choral Arts also regularly makes use of the talents of local professional singers and instrumentalists.

Since 2000, Martin Kessler has directed the group. Kessler graduated from Harvard University where he directed the Bach Society Orchestra and Leverett House Opera. He received his master's degree in composition from Cleveland State University (CSU). He also holds conducting diplomas from the Salzburg Mozarteum and London’s Trinity College of Music. Recently retired as musical faculty from University School, Kessler now serves as adjunct professor in CSU’s Department of Music. He also conducts the Suburban Symphony Orchestra.

The March 2 concert promises to be an exciting opportunity for Choral Arts audiences—a program filled with power and beauty. The event is free and open to the public. For more information about Choral Arts Cleveland, visit www.choralartscleveland.org.