The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and the CBA Chorus: Chicagoland's unique musical ensembles of attorneys, judges and legal professionals, founded in 1986. Jennifer Huang, CBASO music director, Stephen Blackwelder, CBA Chorus director, David Katz, founding music director and administrator
Thursday, April 21, 2011
TICKETS on SALE NOW!
Visit the Chicago Symphony website for tickets!
Friday, April 15, 2011
The CBA SYMPHONY remembers EVELYN MEINE
In the spring of 1986 it was Evelyn Meine, at the suggestion of Margaret Hillis, David's boss at the Elgin Symphony, who first got the young conductor together with a handful of Chicago lawyers looking to start an orchestra. On June 5, 2012, the 170-member CBASO & Chorus (and guest choirs—300 musicians in all) will celebrate the orchestra's 25th birthday at Symphony Center with Carl Orff's mesmerizing "scenic cantata," Carmina Burana.
David Katz writes: "Talk about a Citizen Musician Initiative! Evelyn somehow knew that I might have the right combination of personality and musical skill to guide and grow an ensemble of attorneys and judges. I am delighted that our silver anniversary concert will be held in the building where she herself championed music for so many years."
PHOTO CAPTION: Auditioning an Orchestra, March 25, 1987: Evelyn Meine, center, Coordinator of Community Education and Outreach for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, was key in the creation of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra. Surrounding her at the orchestra's very first performance, a private preview concert for CBA leadership, is, from left, violist Leonard Foster (with his back to the camera), music director David Katz, Meine, CBA President Jack Jiganti, cellist Liz Cameron (partially obscured), and CBA Executive Director, Terry Murphy.
For information on purchasing tickets to the 25th Anniversary Concert, please see earlier posts.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
SOLOISTS for CARMINA BURANA announced!
The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and Chorus is proud to announce the three exceptional vocal soloists for our upcoming performances of Carl Orff's CARMINA BURANA. (Ticket information may be found below this post.)
Patrice Michaels, soprano
“Like the Romantic ideal of art, Patrice Michaels’ voice is both natural and passionate” says Classical CD Digest. “A formidable interpretative talent” (The New Yorker), Ms. Michaels receives raves for her “poise, musicianship and impressive fioratura” (Los Angeles Times), “a voice that is light, rich and flexible” (Opera News).
Concert engagements include appearances with the Shanghai, Czech National, St. Louis, Omaha, Atlanta, Phoenix, Milwaukee, and Minnesota Orchestras, the Maryland Handel Festival, Dallas Bach Society and Charlotte, Kansas City and Virginia Symphonies, as well as New York’s Concert Royal and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. Ms. Michaels has sung the Great Mass in C Minor with Skrowaczewski, Christmas Oratorio with Shaw, Mahler 4 with Zdenek Macal, Mozart Arias with Andrew Parrott and Nicolas McGegan, Carmina Burana with Joanne Falletta and Beethoven 9 with Andreas Delfs and Victor Yampolsky.
Ms. Michaels includes in her operatic credits the Hal Prince production of Candide at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made her debut with the Cleveland Opera as Marzelline in Fidelio and has sung with Central City Opera, Tacoma Opera, The Banff Centre, Canada and Chicago Opera Theater. Her recording as Monica in Menotti’s The Medium (Cedille Records) continues to receive international critical acclaim.
Recital appearances for Ms. Michaels include three consecutive seasons at the Festival of Contemporary Music in Havana, Cuba and tours of Mexico, Japan, Venezuela, Barbados and Belize. She performs frequently in the United States and Canada, has sung with pianist John Browning for Music at the Supreme Court, as guest artist with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, for the Schubert Club of St. Paul and for many academic institutions, including her alma mater Pomona College, Northwestern University and Harvard. www.patricemichaels.com
Ian McEuen, tenor
Ian McEuen most recently appeared as the Marquis in Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles with the Aspen Opera Theatre Center. Last summer, he graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University, where he performed the roles of Nanki-Poo in the Mikado, the Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene, and Amore in L’incoronazione di Poppea. His previous oratorio experience includes Uriel in Haydn’s Creation and the Tenor Soloist in Handel’s Messiah, both with the Carnegie Mellon choirs. An avid recitalist and proponent of 20th and 21st century music, Ian recently performed Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo and the world premiere of Kate Pukinskis’s A Game of Glass. He has also performed multiple times in Pittsburgh Opera’s Brown Bag Concert Series with pianist James Lesniak. Ian is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including most recently the third place and Seagle Colony awards in the Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition, a Shirley Rabb Winston Scholarship, and Second Place in the Sue Goetz Ross Memorial Competition. He is currently working towards his masters in voice at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where he will be performing as Romboïdal in Offenbach's L'ile de Tulipatan.
Jacob Lassetter, baritone
A native of San Antonio, Texas, baritone Jacob Lassetter is achieving triumphant success with his dignified characterizations, unique range of high notes, and richness of tone quality.
In 2010, Jacob Lassetter returned to his signature role Germont in La Traviata at the Music by the Lake summer festival, which he first sang in his Italian debut at the Teatro Accademico in Castelfranco Veneto. This summer also marked Mr. Lassetter’s debut in the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Peninsula Music Festival. Critical acclaim followed his recent performances as a featured soloist with the Lexington Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Mr. Lassetter’s operatic repertoire includes the tile of role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and Griswold in The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe. He performed the title character of Delling in Eric Chasalow’s new opera The Puzzle Master in the Midwestern Premiere. Jacob Lassetter has participated in the Young Artists Programs of Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Utah Festival Opera. Equally adept on the concert stage, Jacob Lassetter has been the featured soloist for numerous symphony organizations, performing Händel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine and Bach’s St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Christmas and Easter Oratorios, and Missa Brevis in F. In 2008, he made his debut at New York City’s Carnegie Hall performing with his wife, soprano Karen Kanakis.
Mr. Lassetter holds a Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude, from Louisiana State University, a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
“Like the Romantic ideal of art, Patrice Michaels’ voice is both natural and passionate” says Classical CD Digest. “A formidable interpretative talent” (The New Yorker), Ms. Michaels receives raves for her “poise, musicianship and impressive fioratura” (Los Angeles Times), “a voice that is light, rich and flexible” (Opera News).
Concert engagements include appearances with the Shanghai, Czech National, St. Louis, Omaha, Atlanta, Phoenix, Milwaukee, and Minnesota Orchestras, the Maryland Handel Festival, Dallas Bach Society and Charlotte, Kansas City and Virginia Symphonies, as well as New York’s Concert Royal and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. Ms. Michaels has sung the Great Mass in C Minor with Skrowaczewski, Christmas Oratorio with Shaw, Mahler 4 with Zdenek Macal, Mozart Arias with Andrew Parrott and Nicolas McGegan, Carmina Burana with Joanne Falletta and Beethoven 9 with Andreas Delfs and Victor Yampolsky.
Ms. Michaels includes in her operatic credits the Hal Prince production of Candide at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made her debut with the Cleveland Opera as Marzelline in Fidelio and has sung with Central City Opera, Tacoma Opera, The Banff Centre, Canada and Chicago Opera Theater. Her recording as Monica in Menotti’s The Medium (Cedille Records) continues to receive international critical acclaim.
Recital appearances for Ms. Michaels include three consecutive seasons at the Festival of Contemporary Music in Havana, Cuba and tours of Mexico, Japan, Venezuela, Barbados and Belize. She performs frequently in the United States and Canada, has sung with pianist John Browning for Music at the Supreme Court, as guest artist with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, for the Schubert Club of St. Paul and for many academic institutions, including her alma mater Pomona College, Northwestern University and Harvard. www.patricemichaels.com
Ian McEuen most recently appeared as the Marquis in Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles with the Aspen Opera Theatre Center. Last summer, he graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University, where he performed the roles of Nanki-Poo in the Mikado, the Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene, and Amore in L’incoronazione di Poppea. His previous oratorio experience includes Uriel in Haydn’s Creation and the Tenor Soloist in Handel’s Messiah, both with the Carnegie Mellon choirs. An avid recitalist and proponent of 20th and 21st century music, Ian recently performed Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo and the world premiere of Kate Pukinskis’s A Game of Glass. He has also performed multiple times in Pittsburgh Opera’s Brown Bag Concert Series with pianist James Lesniak. Ian is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including most recently the third place and Seagle Colony awards in the Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition, a Shirley Rabb Winston Scholarship, and Second Place in the Sue Goetz Ross Memorial Competition. He is currently working towards his masters in voice at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where he will be performing as Romboïdal in Offenbach's L'ile de Tulipatan.
A native of San Antonio, Texas, baritone Jacob Lassetter is achieving triumphant success with his dignified characterizations, unique range of high notes, and richness of tone quality.
In 2010, Jacob Lassetter returned to his signature role Germont in La Traviata at the Music by the Lake summer festival, which he first sang in his Italian debut at the Teatro Accademico in Castelfranco Veneto. This summer also marked Mr. Lassetter’s debut in the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Peninsula Music Festival. Critical acclaim followed his recent performances as a featured soloist with the Lexington Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Mr. Lassetter’s operatic repertoire includes the tile of role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and Griswold in The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe. He performed the title character of Delling in Eric Chasalow’s new opera The Puzzle Master in the Midwestern Premiere. Jacob Lassetter has participated in the Young Artists Programs of Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Utah Festival Opera. Equally adept on the concert stage, Jacob Lassetter has been the featured soloist for numerous symphony organizations, performing Händel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine and Bach’s St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Christmas and Easter Oratorios, and Missa Brevis in F. In 2008, he made his debut at New York City’s Carnegie Hall performing with his wife, soprano Karen Kanakis.
Mr. Lassetter holds a Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude, from Louisiana State University, a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
about THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA and CHORUS
Founded in 1986 by two lawyer-cellists who shared a stand at a Do-It-Yourself Messiah performance conducted by Margaret Hillis, it was she (via the Chicago Symphony's Evelyn Meine) who recommended David Katz, her Elgin Symphony associate conductor, to be the group’s music director. Growing from just a handful of musicians at its first rehearsal, many of whom still play with the ensemble, the group now regularly fields an orchestra of 75 musicians or more, virtually all affiliated with Chicago’s legal community.
Among notable performances in the orchestra’s long history are the first performances anywhere of Gilbert & Sullivan’s courthouse operetta, Trial By Jury, in which the entire cast—soloists, chorus and orchestra—was made up entirely of legal professionals, performing in a working courtroom. The CBASO has collaborated with such notable soloists as Grammy Award winners William Warfield (Copland’s Lincoln Portrait) Robert Black (Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto), Chicago Symphony principal tubist, Gene Pokorny, and former Lyric Opera concertmaster Henry Criz.
The ensemble has performed for many public events of the Chicago Bar Association, its prime sponsor, including annual Law Day observances on Daley Plaza, the culminating event commemorating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, and the recent celebration dinner for retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. To mark its 20th anniversary in 2005, the CBASO presented Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Navy Pier on the final evening of the convention of World Bar Associations. The choral ensemble formed for that performance became the CBA Chorus, now celebrating its fifth anniversary. Under the direction Rebecca Patterson, the Chorus has performed many times with the CBASO in repertoire ranging from Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Haydn’s Creation to the Faure Requiem and Poulenc Gloria.
The CBASO & Chorus join together next season for an evening of opera choruses. Additional repertoire for the 2011-12 season includes Respighi’s Pines of Rome, Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, Gershwin’s Concerto in F and the Schumann Piano Concerto, all presented at the CBASO’s performance home, St James Episcopal Cathedral, Wabash at Huron, Chicago.
guest artists: THE NAPERVILLE CHORUS
Orchestra in this presentation of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. The Naperville Chorus has a long history of collaborative orchestral and choral performances including such classics as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Borodin’s Polovetsian Dances. Most recently the Naperville Chorus, along with the Dupage Symphony Orchestra, performed Alexander Nevsky by Sergei Prokofiev.
Since its founding in 1976, the Naperville Chorus has seen growth both musically and in size and now boasts a membership of more than 125. It presents two concerts a year in the wonderful acoustic space of Wentz Concert Hall on the campus of North Central College. In the last 35 years, the chorus has presented major choral works, with orchestral accompaniment, to the Naperville and surrounding community. It has also sung new works by local composers, including Ann McKinley's Psalm 46, which was written to honor Commander Dan Shanower, a former Naperville resident, who was killed in the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
Preceding the present chorus, was a choral ensemble created in the 1960s by Dr. Paul Warren Allen of the North Central College Music Department. That original chorus introduced the format we continue to use today, which melds the vocal talents of students, college personnel, and community members into a strong organization. In 1976, a chorus was created to celebrate the bicentennial in Naperville and the present chorus is an outgrowth of that group. The chorus has had two directors in its 35-year history. It was founded and directed by Robert O. Jaynes for its first 15 years until his retirement. Professor Jeordano Martínez of North Central College took over the baton and the role of music director, with Jon Warfel as assistant director. The Naperville Chorus Chamber Singers, directed by Ross Berkley, has presented programs in more intimate settings and for local community organizations. If you would like to know more about the Naperville Chorus and its programs, please visit our website at www.NapervilleChorus.org.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
about CBASO music director DAVID KATZ
David' guest appearances include concerts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Mississippi Symphony and Corpus Christi Symphony. Former associate conductor of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra under music director Margaret Hillis, and for twelve years music director of the Adrian Symphony Orchestra and co-founder of Opera!Lenawee in Michigan, Katz is currently artistic director of Hat City Music Theater and the Candlewood Symphony in Connecticut, and serves The American Prize, the national performing arts competitions, as Chief Judge. Also a professional playwright, actor and arts advocate, Katz tours internationally in his acclaimed one-man play, MUSE of FIRE, about the secrets of conducting, which he presented at Theater Building Chicago in 2008.
David Katz holds baccalaureate and master’s degrees in composition and conducting from the Hartt School of Music of the University of Hartford. He was a student of the great Lithuanian maestro, Vytautas Marijosius, and was the first in the school’s history to be awarded an Artist’s Diploma in Conducting. Katz also studied for five years under Maestro Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Maine, and later founded Opera Maine, the Monteux Opera Festival, and the Chamber Orchestra of Maine. He has partnered such artists as Itzhak Perlman and Misha Dichter in concert and has worked with some of the greatest composers of the age, including William Schuman, Hans Werner Henze, Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter. Katz’s own compositions are published by Carl Fischer and G. Schirmer, among others.
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