About the Edina Chorale
The Edina Chorale
The Edina Chorale exists to promote the choral art, because the choral arts free the human spirit to express itself beyond the confines of the spoken word. The choral art combines the spoken word with the aural language of music, a language more experiential and sensual, to create an expression of thoughts, emotions and ideals that could not be fully realized by either alone. This allows the performer and the listener to communicate in ways that transcend speech and time. Given the current social climate that values immediate gratification and a lack of depth of understanding, it is increasingly difficult for people to comprehend that which is long term or eternal. Furthermore, cutbacks in arts education throughout many of our public schools only serve to intensify the need for community arts organizations to fill the void. The Edina Chorale, with its commitment to the broad spectrum of the choral art, is well suited to fill this void.
(click to view larger image)Founded in 1985 by Philip Spencer, Music Director Emeritus, the Edina Chorale is dedicated to the study and performance of the best in choral music, and to bringing that music to the southwest area of the Twin Cities. James Hawthorne directed the chorale from 1990-1995. Thomas Paulson, current music director/conductor began his tenure in the fall of 1995.
Singers are encouraged and assisted in musical skills development through weekly choral and sectional rehearsals, and about four concerts per year. Concerts in recent years have included Haydn Creation, Christmas Cantatas of Pinkham and Billings, Rutter When Icicles Hang, Four Secular Christmas Carols, and Gloria, Handel Chandos Anthem #9, Mendelssohn Elijah, Bach Magnificat, Motets #1 & 6, Duruflé Requiem, Fauré Requiem, Respighi Laud to the Nativity, Pfautsch A Day for Dancing (with the Cynthia Garner Dancers), Haydn St. Nicholas Mass, and semi-staged/concert versions of Gilbert and Sullivan The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance. Concerts have also included a plethora of smaller scale motets, anthems, art songs, cabaret songs, and folk songs, including premiers of original compositions by retired chorale baritone and nationally renowned composer/conductor Ronald A. Nelson, and chorale conductor Thomas Paulson. The chorale has collaborated with the Minnetonka High School Choir, the Symphony of the Lakes and Dakota Valley Chamber Orchestra in recent concerts.
The Edina Chorale is increasingly being recognized for its creative programming, as evidenced by receiving the 2000 Plymouth Music Series/ACDA Minnesota Creative Programming Award.
- In November 2006 they collaborated with Music at Wayzata to honor Frederick Swann’s 65 years of music ministry. Swann, organist/conductor composer, is best known as Organist and Director of Music at the Crystal Cathedral, where he was heard weekly for over 20 years on national television on The Hour of Power.
- A March 2006 concert with the Edina High School Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra, and supported in large part by the Edina Community Foundation, enabled those young people to sing with the adults of the Edina Chorale, and to play sharing stands with professional, union instrumentalists in a performance of Mozart’s Coronation Mass at his 250th birthday.
- A March 2005 concert called Singing Saved My Live, included Joseph Martin’s (et. al.) Sing for the Cure, a song-cycle dealing with women’s personal struggles to overcome breast cancer, and David McCullough’s (et. al.) Holocaust Cantata, songs and poetry written by prisoners of the concentration camps. The chorale performed this cantata again in a particularly poignant performance at Temple Israel , Minneapolis , as a part of worship in January 2006.
- In March 2004 the chorale sang a concert specifically for families with young children. This concert included Joseph Martin’s setting of Doug Wood’s beloved children’s book Old Turtle.
- In June 2004 the chorale traveled to Washington , D.C. , invited to participate in the year-long festivities surrounding the opening of the World War II Memorial. Besides the memorial performances, concerts included singing on the steps of the Capitol, in the Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building , for Senator Mark Dayton and Representative Jim Ramstad, and in the National Basilica of the Holy Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
The Chamber Chorale
(click to view larger image)The Edina Chamber Chorale was formed in 1998 to provide highly experienced singers within the Edina Chorale the opportunity to perform music specifically written for smaller ensemble and develop their music skills in a smaller ensemble environment. Performance opportunities have included A Very Traditional English Lessons and Carols, Kings Singers arrangements of Beatle’s tunes, Mozart Loritian Litanies, Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music, Bach Lobet den Herrn, Brahms Neue Liebeslieder and Liebeslieder Walzer, Rutter 5 Traditional Songs, and Vaughan Williams/Leavitt Songs of Travel. The Chamber Chorale performed for 2002 American Choral Directors Association Regional Convention in Des Moines , 2001 Choral Day at St. Olaf College , and 2000 Minnesota ACDA Convention.
