Major Works with Full Orchestra are on Tap for the 40th-Anniversary Season
Chicago Master Singers will open its 40th-anniversary season with a performance of Mendelssohn’s blockbuster oratorio, Elijah, at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 2, and 7:00 pm on Sunday, November 4, at the Divine Word Chapel in Techny (Northbrook), Illinois. The Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra will perform with the chorus under the direction of Alan Heatherington. Vocal soloists will be soprano Michelle Areyzaga, mezzo-soprano Susan Platts, tenor Klaus Georg and bass-baritone Gerard Sundberg.
The chorus’s traditional Christmas concert will be accompanied by Ars Viva musicians on strings and harp. The concert will be at a new venue – Our Lady of the Brook Church in Northbrook – at 7:30 pm on both Friday and Saturday, December 14 and 15. There will be no Sunday concert for Christmas.
The spring concert will return to Techny’s Divine Word Chapel. It will feature Dvořák’s moving and masterfulRequiem with the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra and the same line-up of professional soloists as in the fall. The spring concerts will be at 7:30 pm on Friday, April 26, and 7:00 pm on Sunday, April 28.
At its benefit gala in the spring, musicians and patrons of Chicago Master Singers will celebrate the chorus’s 40th anniversary as well as Maestro Alan Heatherington’s 30th anniversary as music director.
Individual tickets and season subscriptions can be purchased online at www.chicagomastersingers.org, or at the door pending availability. Purchasing tickets in advance is recommended. Single ticket prices range from $15 (with student discount) to $48. Discounts are also available for seniors and groups of 10 or more. To purchase tickets off-line, call 1-877-825-5267 (TALK CMS) to leave a message.
We are proud and pleased to announce that British-born Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts will be performing as a soloist with Chicago Master Singers this season. She is hailed as a singer who “brings a uniquely rich and wide-ranging voice to the concert and recital repertoire for alto and mezzo-soprano. She is particularly acclaimed for her performances of Gustav Mahler’s works.”
Ms. Platts has been mentored by world-renowned soprano Jessye Norman since 2004 when Ms. Norman chose her from 26 candidates worldwide as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Ms. Platts has performed at Teatro alla Scala, Teatro di San Carlo, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and with leading orchestras and conductors throughout North America and Europe.
Her performing credits in recent years include John Adams' Nixon in China with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer at the BBC Proms in London, and then at the Berlin Festival, as well as roles with Pacific Opera Victoria and Vancouver Opera. In 2017 she made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in Die Zauberflöte.
Ms. Platts has recorded Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde for Fontec Records with Gary Bertini conducting the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra; a CD of dramatic sacred art songs with pianist Dalton Baldwin; Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and Santa Fe Pro Musica for Dorian Records; and Brahms’ Zwei Gesänge with Steven Dann and Lambert Orkis on the ATMA label. She recently recorded her first solo disc of Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, also on the ATMA label.
Chicago Master Singers’ performances of Mendelsson’s Elijah in the fall and Dvořák’s Requiem in the spring will feature Ms. Platts as the alto soloist.
Chicago Master Singers' November and April concerts are held in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit (Divine Word) at Techny Towers 2001 Waukegan Road
Techny/Northbrook, IL 60082
The Christmas concerts are at
Our Lady of the Brook Church
3700 Dundee Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
We are proud and pleased to announce that British-born Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts will be performing as a soloist with Chicago Master Singers this season. She is hailed as a singer who “brings a uniquely rich and wide-ranging voice to the concert and recital repertoire for alto and mezzo-soprano. She is particularly acclaimed for her performances of Gustav Mahler’s works.”
Chicago Master Singers' November and April concerts are held in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit (Divine Word) at Techny Towers
