Northern Light
Video: Garry Grasinski, Grayson Media
A Concert of Scandinavian and Baltic Music
Michael Cavalieri, Baritone
Showcasing the sophisticated, technically-demanding choral traditions of the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, this program features music composed in the last 100 years. The works are characterized by sharp contrasts between a basic neo-romantic harmonic language, and surprising dissonance; between complex, driving rhythms, and passages that seem to hang motionless in the air; between idiomatic reflection of bleak, dark, northern winter, and a yearning for the warmth of spring. The program includes Edvard Grieg’s final major work, Four Hymns, with baritone soloist Michael Cavalieri; music of Knut Nystedt, including his most famous motet, O crux; celebrated Estonians Arvo Pärt and Urmas Sisask; Swedes Nils Lindberg, Otto Olsson, and Jan Sandström; and Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavvara, whose Vigilia Chorale performed and recorded in 2011.
Chorale will utilize all of the sonic possibilities and variety of its two venues to present these musical contrasts, and to engage listeners in the high quality, magical sound of this supremely important genre in contemporary choral music.
–> Download the concert program book and read the program notes (p.19)
Ticket Pricing
$30 Reserved, $20 General Admission, $15 Student
Advance and GA tickets will be $5 more at the door
A pre-concert lecture will be presented by award-winning choral composer and conductor Anne Heider, at 7:00 pm prior to each concert.
About Anne Heider, pre-concert speaker
Anne Heider is an award-winning conductor, composer, arranger, and teacher. She is Associate Professor Emerita of Choral Music at Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University and is active as a guest conductor and choral consultant. She served on the board of Chorus America for nine years. She is artistic director emerita of the Chicago-based professional chamber choir Bella Voce (founded as His Majestie’s Clerkes), of which she was a founding singer and which she led for over sixteen years to consistent critical acclaim and international recognition.
Dr. Heider’s research in early vocal music has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Newberry Library, and Roosevelt University. She has recorded with Bella Voce for Harmonia Mundi, Cedille Records, Centaur Records, and Narada. Choral octavos of editions and arrangements by Dr. Heider are published by GIA; her scholarly editions of 16th-century Huguenot psalmody by Claude Le Jeune were published by A-R Editions in 1989 and 1995. She currently serves on the board of Bella Voce and on the artistic advisory board of The Musical Offering, a community music school in Evanston.
About Michael Cavalieri, Baritone soloist
Baritone Michael Cavalieri has sung a wide range of styles and repetoire, spanning from concert to opera to ensemble. His roles include Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Gianni Schicchi, and Valentin (Faust). Michael recently performed Grieg’s “Four Hymns” with the Chicago Chorale and can be heard in the upcoming “Opera, Up Close” Series at Governor’s State University as Belcore in L’elisir d’amore. He was heard in Light Opera Works productions of Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” (Carl Magnus) and Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance (Pirate King), where the Chicago Sun-Times called his voice “rich and juicy.” He premiered the role of “The Announcer” in Gustavo Leone’s “The Leader” at the Goodman Theater. Michael contributed over a dozen songs to the complete songbook of Charles Ives for Naxos. In collaboration with RealTime Opera and SO Percussion, Mr. Cavalieri debuted the title role in “Feynman”, a one-act mixed media opera for percussion and baritone. Mr. Cavalieri sang the role of Panlgoss for the Milanese debut of Bernstein’s “Candide” with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano. His recital repertoire includes Schubert, Mahler, Wolf, Duparc, and Argento, performing “The Andrée Expedition” with J.J Penna. A versatile voice for the stage, his concert work includes Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Mass in C Major, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. Mr. Cavalieri holds degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University, Arizona State University, and Yale University. He has sung with Chicago Folks Operetta, Arizona Opera, Yale Opera and Santa Fe Opera and currently sings in the ensembles of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Solo Dei Gloria.
Additional information
Concert program book – pdf
Concert Press Release – pdf
Hyde Park Union Church — The Friday concert venue in Hyde Park
Parking: Street parking is generally available in the evenings within a few blocks of the church
St. Vincent de Paul Parish — The Saturday concert venue in the Lincoln Park
Transportation: SVDP is just two blocks south of the Fullerton Red Line El stop, and two blocks north of the Armitage Brown Line El stop
Parking: Available for reduced price of $6 at either 2335 N. Sheffield or 2330 N. Clifton when you show your program or tell the attendant at the garage exit that you attended the church concert.
