June 2022
Happy Summer!

A huge thank you goes out to everyone who has donated to the "Celebrate our Community" spring fundraiser! With your help, we exceeded our goal of $5,000 and your generous contributions of $6,193 will go a long way to support our programming for this coming season. If you would still like to make a contribution, it's not too late!
Mahler Symphony No. 3
By Nathan Wubbena
Boulder Children's Chorale Co-Artistic Director
Last month, the treble singers of both our children’s and adult ensembles had the coveted opportunity to perform with the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra, under the direction of Kenneth Woods. Our artistic directors collaborated to help the singers, ages 9-80+, prepare Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 for the performance on May 22nd at Macky Auditorium. We’re certainly blessed to have a multi-generational membership that can work so well together.

The choir members represented Boulder Chorale admirably. Colorado MahlerFest artistic and executive staff, in addition to audience members, praised their performance. They also garnered the praise of local classical music writer, Kelly Dean Hansen: “In the fifth movement, Mahler asks for a women’s choir and a children’s choir for all of five minutes, but the symphony would be an entirely different entity without them. The Boulder Chorale, under the excellent leadership of Vicki Burrichter, and the affiliated Boulder Children’s Chorale made a remarkable impact.”
Read the full article here.

Congratulations to our members on a job well done! We look forward to our next collaboration.
Colorado Music Festival
By Larisa Dreger
Boulder Children's Chorale Co-Artistic Director
Boulder Concert & Chamber Chorale Assistant Artistic Director
The Boulder Children’s Chorale is excited to announce a midsummer collaboration with Colorado Music Festival’s event– A Midsummer Night’s Dream with John de Lancie. Recommended students within the BCC’s Prima Voce choir will be pantomime acting, as well as singing supporting melodies for each of the fairy scenes. We are thrilled to be able to collaborate with Colorado Music Festival once again, as the last time Boulder Children’s Chorale shared the stage at Chautauqua Auditorium was for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 in the summer of 2019. Please follow this link to learn more about the event, the performers, and the incredible music by Felix Mendelssohn.  
Summer Reading & Music
By Dr. Vicki Burrichter
Boulder Concert & Chamber Chorale Artistic Director
Happy Summer!

If you love music like we do here at the Boulder Chorale - and not just choral music! - you may be taking that new book about Beethoven to the beach instead of the latest thriller. Here's some suggestions for your summer reading and listening.

Enjoy! Dr. Vicki
Reading:

Beethoven: A Life, by Jan Caeyers. Conductor and scholar Caeyers had unprecedented access to the Beethoven house at Bonn, and brings new light to Beethoven's life and work.

Conversation, by Steve Reich. Composer Steve Reich is one of the most influential composers of the last 50 years. He was a leader of the minimalist movement of the 1960's and has influenced composers, choreographers, and video artists. Here he talks with everyone from Stephen Sondheim to Brian Eno, Julia Wolfe and Michael Tilson Thomas.

The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo, by Garrett Hongo. A poet's audio obsession to find the perfect stereo system, one that will bear the highest notes of an operatic soprano and the lowest growl of a blues singer, while along the way exploring the twin inspirations of his youth - Rilke and Joni Mitchell. Growing up in LA, with its mix of cultures, inspires his search for the perfect sound of poetry and music.

This Woman's Work: Essays on Music, edited by Sinead Gleeson and Kim Gordon. Challenging the historic narrative of music and music writing being written by men, this eclectic collection features essays by everyone from Margo Jefferson and Rachel Kushner to Maggie Nelson and Yijun Li.

The Voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic Song, and Egyptian Society in the Twentieth Century, by Virginia Danielson. As actor Omar Sharif said, "She is born again every morning in the heart of 120 million beings. In the East a day without Umm Kulthum would have no color." In preparation for our fall concert titled Origins: The Fertile Crescent, this book on the great singer Umm Kulthum will give you some background on Arabic music. 

Listening:

"Kôrôlén" - Toumani Diabaté and The London Symphony Orchestra - After many years of Euro-centrism in classical music, it appears that inroads are being taken by other cultures - here by African Koro player Diabaté.

"Black Radio III" - Robert Glasper. Pianist Glasper's third in a series devoted to combining hip-hop with jazz.

"An Old Belief" - The Sixteen/Harry Christophers - Choral music by Parry, Campion, and McDowell from one of the world's greatest a cappella British choirs.

"Diabelli Variations" - Beethoven; Mitsuko Uchido, piano. The great Uchido's first recording in ten years brings her revelatory style to the performance history of this work.

"The Best of Oum Kalthoum" - This great Egyptian singer (you will see her name spelled many different ways in English) will be represented in our fall concert, Origins: The Fertile Crescenthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYUqPTpc_R8&t=49s

"Sempiternam: Choral music by Rhona Clarke" - State Choir Latvija / Māris Sirmais. The resonant sound of this wonderful chorus pairs with the beautiful compositions of Ms. Clarke.

"Drone Mass" - Jóhann Jóhannsson/The Hilliard Ensemble/Paul Hillier. The late Icelandic composer's work is magnificently captured by The Hilliard Ensemble.