Chicago Chorale’s 25th Founding Anniversary
An early photo of Chicago Chorale. (Founding Artistic Director, Bruce Tammen, is on the bottom right.)
By Bruce Tammen
Chicago Chorale met for its first rehearsal on Tuesday, October 9, 2001, in the chapel auditorium of the Lutheran School of Theology (LSTC), in Hyde Park. Fifteen singers were present that first night; we grew to nineteen over the course of the next few weeks. I had served as director of choral activities at the University of Chicago 1984-96, before moving to the University of Virginia with my family; most of those first nineteen singers were people I had worked with before I left for Virginia, and I was darned lucky they were still around and remembered me when we returned. I was also fortunate that my wife had taken a job at LSTC, which brought us back to Hyde Park. Her employers let us rehearse in their facility free of charge, which was an incredible boon: the chapel had a wonderful acoustic and piano, which immediately set us up for a positive experience. One of those first singers, Heather Ahrenholz, was particularly helpful in locating my former singers who were still around; I don't know how I would have put a choir together without her.
Heather and I began talking about starting a choir as soon as I moved back to the Hyde Park neighborhood. In addition to a rehearsal venue, we would need a performance event to prepare for, something to motivate us and inspire our programming. I contacted Father George Lane, who had once arranged for one of my U Chicago choirs to sing at Church of the Holy Family, up on Roosevelt Road; he put me in touch with the priest at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, on 38th and Paulina, who invited us to sing a service of Advent Lessons and Carols on December 9th. Bingo! It was a beautiful old church with a wonderful acoustic and an active congregation which was likely to come out and hear us. I chose music which was at least tangentially related to Advent and appropriate for a choir of our size and expertise, by Mendelssohn, Palestrina, J.S. Bach, Verdi, Byrd, Gibbons, and Paul Manz.
Fortunately, the singers we had been able to corral were good, and motivated. Most of them knew me and one another, and knew how I worked, what my expectations were. Many were early music enthusiasts, which was important, relative to the repertoire I had chosen. We slipped easily into a comfortable working relationship. Word got out, and other singers joined us after our December gig— we were up to twenty-one by March, thirty-five by the following October, forty-one by season three.
The singers and I did everything. We had no money. We received no payment for the Lessons and Carols service, and little more than pocket change for the concerts we presented later that first season. We designed our own posters and programs, and our printing was done for free, through a member of the group. We paid no rent. We borrowed our printed music. We didn’t pay for advertising. I was not paid, nor did we pay a rehearsal accompanist: I or a member of the group would play for rehearsals.
After our first season at LSTC, the school ripped out their chapel auditorium and reconfigured the space. Luckily, we found another good rehearsal venue, at St. Paul and the Redeemer Church, also free of charge. Wouldn't you know— they proceeded to rip up their interior and renovate their sanctuary, forcing us to find yet another venue. Serendipitously, Hyde Park Union Church (HPUC) finished a major renovation at just about that time, and their pastor, Susan Johnson, invited us to share their building— first the social hall, then the sanctuary. With the exception of two seasons, Chorale has rehearsed in HPUC ever since.
I arrived in Hyde Park, in August 2001, unemployed and with no prospects, but trained, experienced, bubbling over with energy. I had spent my adult life to that point either singing in choirs conducted by others, or conducting choirs within strictly controlled, somewhat stifling environments. I had little appetite for continuing in such a life; I was ready to do something on my own— my way. I had no master plan, no clearly defined goal— I just knew in my bones that I had to do something. Chorale was born out of that energy, supported by the energy, talent, and generosity of those who were willing to take a chance on this start-up. The twenty-five years since that first October 9 have been full of surprises, setbacks, unexpected growth, and incredible highs for all of us. I look forward to seeing what the next twenty-five years brings, under new and inspiring leadership.