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FROM:
Chicago Master Singers
P.O. Box 1503
Barrington, IL 60011
CONTACT:
Sharon Starr
Tel: 847-612-4691
Email: [email protected]
PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 2, 2020
Chicago Master Singers’ First Online Performance Debuts on YouTube
Chicago Master Singers released its first online performance this week and it can be heard on the chorus’s YouTube channel. O Love, a contemporary work by composer Elaine Hagenberg, is conducted by CMS Music Director John C. Hughes with accompaniment by pianist Lyudmila Lakisova.
Dr. Hughes chose this piece of music because of its emotionally powerful setting of a comforting and hopeful text. “This work encourages us through these difficult days and reminds us why we love choral music,” he said.
Iowa-based choral composer Elaine Hagenberg has become internationally known, with performances at Carnegie Hall, and in Europe, Australia and South America. This year she won the American Choral Directors Association’s Raymond Brock commission, one of choral music’s highest honors. Dr. Hughes calls her “one of our brightest composers in the US right now.”
While live performances are on hold, Dr. Hughes has been leading a series of free weekly educational programs on musical topics online this fall. One program featured a live interview with Elaine Hagenberg. This and other previously recorded programs can be viewed at no cost on the CMS YouTube channel.
Chicago Master Singers (www.chicagomastersingers.org) is an auditioned chorus of about 100 singers from Chicago and many suburban communities. The chorus has performed choral masterworks in collaboration with professional soloists and orchestras in the Chicago area since 1979 and on tour in Europe. Dr. Hughes became Chicago Master Singers’ third Music Director in its 41-year history this year.
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