70 Years of Exceptional Music-Making
The Collegiate Chorale has been a prominent force in the cultural life of New York City since its founding in 1941 by Robert Shaw.
Taking the name of its first rehearsal space, the Marble Collegiate Church, The Chorale rose to prominence when it performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. Subsequently, this New York City based chorus has performed with such conductors as Beecham, Bernstein, Conlon, Koussevitzky, Levine, Maazel, Mehta, and Mitropoulos. Through the years The Chorale has established an international reputation through its commitment not only to the traditional choral repertoire but to American music, commissioning works from Barber, Bolcom, Britten, Copland, Dvorák, Hindemith, and Sessions. Under the leadership of its Music Director, the late Robert Bass (from 1980-2008), The Chorale expanded its vision to include operatic repertoire, multi-media productions and cross-genre presentations. The Chorale's newly appointed Maestro, James Bagwell, stands ready to champion this vision and carry The Chorale forward into the next great phase of its musical life.In 1982, The Chorale joined Juilliard's American Opera Center for the New York premiere of Montezuma by Roger Sessions. Other premiere concert performances of operas followed: 1984, the American premiere of Dvorák's Dimitri; 1987, the New York premiere of Respighi's La fiamma; 1989, the New York premiere of Strauss' previously unrecorded one-act opera, Friedenstag. In 1997, The Chorale gave the New York premiere of Schubert's Fierrabras. This marked the beginning of making Opera-in-Concert a key element in future Chorale seasons. Please see the complete listing of The Chorale’s Opera-In-Concert performances.
The Chorale is committed to presenting the full spectrum of the vocal arts including opera, choral classics and contemporary vocal pieces.
The Chorale has furter explored the relationship of words and music in working with acclaimed actor Roger Rees. As The Chorale's Artistic Associate, Mr. Rees has directed The Chorale in several programs that investigate the relationship between music and text and the vocal language they create. Included in this series have been: An Evening of American Operetta; An Evening of Kurt Weill; Shakespeare and Verdi; Scott Joplin's Treemonisha; Glass and Moran's The Juniper Tree; Weill's The Firebrand of Florence and Knickerbocker Holiday. Critically acclaimed, these programs are valuable to both The Chorale and its audiences by showing the range of color and musical style of which the choral sound is capable.The continued strength of classical music as an art form depends on retaining and revitalizing existing audiences as well as creating new ones.
To that end, The Chorale's education programs bring an understanding and appreciation of the vocal arts to students, audiences and the broader community. One of The Chorale's flagship programs is the Side-by-Side initiative. Launched by The Chorale in 2002, it provides an opportunity for musically advanced high school students to rehearse and perform with the chorus "side-by-side" with the regular members and professional singers. The program enriches the schools’ vocal music curricula with a series of master classes, and gives students invaluable experience performing at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center with professional musicians and world-class soloists.The Chorale has also been gaining recognition with acclaimed performances abroad.
In 2005, The Chorale received an invitation from Maestro James Levine to sing under his baton at The Verbier Festival in Switzerland. The Chorale performed Verdi's Requiem in its Festival debut, and returned in August 2006 to perform a broader program: Verdi's Simone Boccanegra and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Mr. Levine. Mr. Bass made his Festival conducting debut with The Chorale on August 5th, presenting Schubert's Mirjams Siegesgesang. The Chorale has since been invited to perform at the 2009 and 2011 Festivals and is honored to be a part of this world-class assembly of artists.The Chorale's presence on the international music scene continues to expand. In July 2008, The Chorale traveled to Israel at the request of Zubin Mehta to perform with the Israel Philharmonic in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. The Chorale has been invited to perform with the Israel Philharmonic in July of 2012 in Israel and will then tour to the Salzburg Festival. This performance will mark The Chorale's debut at this prestigious festival.
Highlights of recent seasons include: the New York premiere of Bernstein and Lerner's A White House Cantata, Mendelssohn's Elijah featuring Bryn Terfel; Scott Joplin's Treemonisha; Kurt Weill's Firebrand of Florence featuring Nathan Gunn, and the 2011 performance of Weill’s Knickerbocker Holiday, which was recorded and is available on the Sh-k-boom/Ghostlight Records label.
The Chorale has performed on radio and television since its inception under Robert Shaw.
First was a 1948 performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. In recent years it has appeared in various educational programs and concert broadcasts. The Chorale sang in Pavarotti Plus!, of which all six programs were televised nationally on PBS, and the latter as part of the Live From Lincoln Center series in 1990. MTV invited The Chorale to perform "O Fortuna," from Orff's Carmina Burana at the nationally broadcast "MTV Video Music Awards" in 1999. WFMT has carried The Chorale's "Opera-in-Concert" series, providing national carriage of acclaimed performances. In October 2006, Robert Bass participated in WNYC's "Beethoven Festival." Speaking on The Spirit is Willing: Beethoven's Vocal Music with George Preston, Maestro Bass discussed the challenges of the composer's few pieces for the voice. The program featured The Chorale's recordings of Beethoven's works, including the 2005 opera-in-concert performance of Fidelio with Deborah Voigt and the historic recording of Toscanini conducting the Symphony No. 9. The Chorale's recordings include: Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) under Leonard Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic for Sony; Dvorák's Discoveries from America for Music and Arts; Strauss' Friedenstag for Koch; Beethoven's Der glorreiche Augenblick and Cantata on the Elevation of Leopold II with Deborah Voigt and the Orchestra of Saint Luke's for Koch International.Highlights of recent seasons include: the New York premiere of Bernstein and Lerner's A White House Cantata, Mendelssohn's Elijah featuring Bryn Terfel; Scott Joplin's Treemonisha; Kurt Weill's Firebrand of Florence featuring Nathan Gunn, and the 2011 performance of Weill’s Knickerbocker Holiday, which was recorded and is available on the Sh-k-boom/Ghostlight Records label.