Holidays a cappella:
Tales and Legends
Sunday, December 4, 2016, 3:00 pm
Nichols Concert Hall
1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston
Friday, December 16, 2016, 7:30 pm
Wentz Concert Hall
171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville
Saturday, December 10, 2016, 8:00 pm
4th Presbyterian Church
Michigan Ave. at Delaware Pl., Chicago
Saturday, December 17, 2016, 8:00 pm
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
5850 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago
Sunday, December 11, 2016, 3:00 pm
St. Clement Church
642 W. Deming Pl., Chicago
Sunday, December 18, 2016, 4:00 pm
Pilgrim Congregational Church
460 Lake Street, Oak Park
Chicago a cappella
Kathryn Kamp, Soprano
Alexia Kruger, Soprano
Cari Plachy, Soprano
Sarah Ponder, Mezzo-soprano
Emily Price, Mezzo-soprano
Ace Gangoso, Tenor
Garrett Johannsen, Tenor
Carl Frank, Bass
Joe Labozetta, Bass
Woo Chan (Chaz) Lee, Bass
Founder and Artistic Director
Jonathan Miller
Guest Music Director
Anne Heider
Chicago a cappella is partially supported by The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; The
Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development; The MacArthur Funds for Arts & Culture at the
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs
and Special Events; the Oak Park Area Arts Council, in partnership with the Village of Oak Park;
the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency. Media
Sponsors: The Daily Herald and NewCity.
Holidays a cappella
1
PROGR A M
Joy to the World!............................................................................. G. F. Handel, arr. Philip Lawson
Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow............................................................ Spiritual, arr. Roland Carter
*******
Videntes stellam................................................................................. Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594)
The Cherry Tree Carol..................................................... Appalachian folk song, arr. Alice Parker
A la xàcara xacarilla.......................... Trad. Mexican, arr. Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (1590-1664)
*******
Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl...................................................Gelbart/Secunda, arr. Mark Zuckerman
Śliczna Panienka........................................................ Trad. Polish carol, arr. J. Michael Thompson
Kalado..................................................................................... Trad. Latvian carol, arr. Juris Vaivods
*******
Longfellow’s Carol......................................................................................Jonathan Miller (b. 1962)
The Sycamore Tree............................................................................ Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
*******
Si no me dan de beber lloro............................................... Vicente Carratini, arr. Jonathan Miller
INTERMISSION
Fum, fum, fum................................................................................ Trad. Catalan, arr. Anne Heider
*******
Najświętsza Panienka...................................................................... Trad. Polish, arr. Jacek Sykulski
*******
Ain’t Dat A-Rockin’ All Night?.................................................................. Spiritual, arr. Paul Carey
Miracle............................................................................................. Matisyahu, arr. Patrick Sinozich
*******
Good King Wenceslas............................................................. 13th-century melody with words by
John Mason Neale (1818-1866),
arr. Anne Heider
His piety and marvelous works
(excerpt from St. Nicolas, A Cantata)....................................................................Benjamin Britten
*******
Jingle Bells Hallelujah Chorus........................................................................... arr. Jonathan Miller
Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the ushers.
Smoking is prohibited in all venues. Outside food and beverage are
not permitted in the audience seating area. Thank you for your cooperation.
2
Chicago a cappella
C H I C AG O A C APPE LL A M E R C H A N D I S E
Bound for Glory!
New settings of African-American Spirituals
Our debut recording on the Gothic Records label is a moving and joyous
collection of spirituals, featuring new settings of powerful melodies by a
host of brilliant and innovative composers.
Days of Awe
and Rejoicing:
Radiant Gems of Jewish
Music
Eclectric
New works, familiar
favorites, pop & jazz. “An
overflowing cornucopia
of choral delights”
(ChicagoTribune)
Shall I Compare Thee?
Contemporary settings
of Shakespeare’s timeless
words
Go Down, Moses
A stunning collection of
spirituals
Holidays
a cappella Live
Live performances of
Christmas spirituals,
Chanukah songs and
holiday music from
around the world
Palestrina: Music for the
Christmas Season
Brilliant Renaissance
polyphony by the Italian
master Palestrina
Christmas a cappella
A celebration of the
holiday season with
Christmas songs from
around the world
Available in the lobby: $16 each (includes sales tax)
NEW THIS SEASON:
Chicago a cappella Mugs
Earbuds
Tote Bags
Mints and water bottles are also available at the merchandise table.
Holidays a cappella
3
F R O M T H E A R T I S T I C D I R E C TO R
I love programming our “Holidays a cappella” concerts. It may have
something to do with the fact that I usually do this in the fall, which is
my favorite season. The days are getting shorter; the humidity of
summer is gone; the angle of the sunlight outside my home-office
window is headed to the south; and the oak leaves are piling up in the
yard (which means a few hours of welcome outdoor exercise with
Sandy and the dogs).
My job, which is now completed for this program, is to capture the essence of the season in
about twenty songs. How does one do that? The December holidays are paradoxical. When
we get to them, at least in Chicago, it’s usually dark and cold. You might ask, “And you want
me to get perky and excited now, with all this holiday music?” Well, no, not really; as always,
balance is the key. Yes, a judicious amount of upbeat-ness is in order, but so is contemplation;
joy, but also quiet; praise, but also lullabies. I especially love our Polish carol in praise of hay
– the lowly and humble hay in which Jesus was laid. What a wonderful image, so different
from the usual ones in the American collective mind and media.
I have associated December with singing as long as I can recall—in the car on long trips,
at camp, in worship services, you name it. In my family, we did not have a particularly
materialistic mindset; my parents, especially my mother, were actively cultivating voluntary
simplicity, which was gaining popularity in the 1960s. Joining the Chicago Children’s Choir
in 4th grade was my initiation into the formal choral tribe; I hope that every child can have
some experience that approximates the almost overwhelming awe, joy, and wonder that
came from being a part of Christmas Vespers services at First Unitarian Church in Hyde
Park. (I’m getting choked up just remembering it now.) That was one of my first experiences
of the cup running over: a heart full to overflowing, so much that you’re not sure you can
actually handle it—but you do, and your heart grows as a result. If we can give you even a
taste of that sort of heart-ful-ness while you’re here with us today, we will be grateful.
Thank you for being here, and enjoy the show.
—Jonathan Miller, Founder and Artistic Director
F R O M T H E G U E S T M U S I C D I R E C TO R
Jonathan Miller and I were choral colleagues in the early 1980’s at Holy
Name Cathedral. We were also original members of His Majestie’s
Clerkes, now Bella Voce, the a cappella ensemble founded by
countertenor Richard Childress, who also sang at Holy Name. Some ten
years later Jonathan started his own group, Chicago a cappella.
As Artistic Director of His Majestie’s Clerkes, I invited Chicago
a cappella to be a guest ensemble in concerts in 1994 and again in 1996, and both
collaborations were artistically challenging and rewarding. Both ensembles have thrived
and become Chicago-area institutions, treasured by their audiences and supporters. It’s an
honor and a joy to be invited by Jonathan for a return engagement as Guest Music Director
of “Holidays a cappella”.
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Chicago a cappella
F R O M T H E G U E S T M U S I C D I R E C TO R
c o n t.
Countless tales and legends have gathered around and grown out of the annual midwinter
celebration of birth and rebirth. The darkest, coldest season of the year abounds in stories
that give us light, warmth, and hope. The small human details—Joseph losing his temper, the
peasant with a houseful of kids, the shivering pageboy—anchor us in a world we recognize;
then we truly feel the miracle that awaits us in each story.
Songs celebrating the special foods and games of the season remind us of our childhood.
Some, like the top in Little Dreidl, have acquired a symbolic significance that adds teaching
value to the stories. Others, like Kalado and Si non me dan de beber, revel in the giddiness of
house-to-house serenading, masquing, drinking and feasting: the solstice has arrived! the
days are getting longer and lighter! Songs extolling miraculous deeds by saints give us vivid
narratives to help us understand saintliness. (Saint Nicolas is the champion in that regard,
and Benjamin Britten folded seven different legends into one piece of music, piling them up
one after another until our heads spin.)
The singers of Chicago a cappella have plunged with zest into this motley array of stories.
They are alert, accomplished vocal artists; they’re open to repertoire of all sorts; they love
getting the details right; and they nourish one another with their energy and delight in
performing. I am privileged to have worked with them to bring you this eclectic program of
holiday tales and legends.
—Anne Heider
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
G. F. Handel, arr. Philip Lawson: Joy to the World
Yes, the composer of the Messiah also wrote Joy to the World! At least the melody has been
attributed to Handel. The familiar tune receives an unusually skillful treatment here in the
hands of former King’s Singer Philip Lawson. The rhythm leaps off the page with a Scotch
snap, and the lush six-part harmonies propel the piece forward.
Spiritual, arr. Roland Carter: Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow
Roland Carter is Holmberg Professor Emeritus of American Music at the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga and currently director of the Chancel Choir at Cascade United
Methodist Church in Atlanta. A former president of the National Association of Negro
Musicians, he is the arranger of the most commonly-heard version of “Lift Every Voice and
Sing.” Prof. Carter has been honored to participate musically in every possible setting, from
working in the smallest church to conducting at presidential inaugurations in Washington.
An outstanding musician, he has conducted opera as well as choral music nationwide
and has been involved in radio and television broadcasts in his role as a preservationist of
African-American music.
This setting of “Rise Up, Shepherd” follows mostly traditional voicings and harmonies. The
piece is effective in its straightforward simplicity. The final chorus takes off in an energetic
ascent, speeding up as it sets up a call-and-response dialogue between men and women
before rising to the highest soprano heights for a strong finish.
Holidays a cappella
5
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
Orlando di Lasso: Videntes stellam
Lasso is usually mentioned in the same breath with Palestrina, as they were the two most
important and influential musicians in the European High Renaissance. Lasso was born in
what is now Belgium and went to Italy early in his career; one legend says he was kidnapped
at age 12 because of his sweet singing voice. At age 23, he was hired at the Bavarian court in
Munich—one of the best “gigs” for an active composer, with a fabulous choir and creative
environment—and settled in there for the rest of his life, a stay of almost 40 years. While
he worked for the Roman Catholic Church, he kept an open mind to what was happening
musically elsewhere, including in Protestant lands. He wrote in every conceivable genre of
sacred and secular music, and his music was disseminated all over Europe.
Lasso is known as a master of musical rhetoric—the art of using expressive techniques
to communicate vividly. A few examples will show his level of skill and playfulness. The
opening leap of a fifth and then an octave, which occurs in every voice part, literally forces
the singers to look up (at least on the page, if not at the conductor or the audience) and sing
upward in their vocal ranges—a clever and evocative way to set the opening words, “looking
at the star.” There is a nice chromatic inflection at the words “et intrantes domum” (“upon
entering the house”), perhaps signaling in music how special it must have been for the Magi
to step into that place and encounter Jesus for the first time. Another attention-getting chord
happens at the word “procidentes” (“bowing down”). Finally, in the second section, there is
a long, florid melisma on the word “aurum” (“gold”), much as you or I might say “ooooooh”
when seeing a treasure-trove like that.
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Chicago a cappella
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
Videntes stellam Magi gavisi sunt gaudio magno:
et intrantes domum invenerunt puerum
cum Maria matre eius
et procidentes adoraverunt eum.
Upon seeing the star, the wise men rejoiced with
a great joy;
and, entering the house, they found the boy
with Mary, his mother,
and, bowing down, they worshipped him.
Et apertis thesauris suis, obtulerunt ei munera,
aurum, thus et myrrham.
And, with their treasures opened, they offered
him gifts:
gold, frankincense and myrrh.
—English translation by Jonathan Miller
—Matthew 2:10-11
Appalachian folk song, arr. Alice Parker: The Cherry Tree Carol
One of the heroes of American choral music, Alice Parker is a living cultural treasure. After
studying composition and performance at Smith College and choral conducting at Juilliard
with Robert Shaw, she came to prominence in the 1950s as the chief arranger for the Robert
Shaw Chorale, creating hundreds of settings of folksongs, hymns, and spirituals. Still active
at age 91, she was in Chicago just last month for a marathon weekend of teaching and
mentoring. She teaches composition and arranging with a special emphasis on melody. She
continues to lead Melodious Accord, the New York City-based organization she founded in
1985.
Parker’s setting of “The Cherry Tree Carol” works with a version of melody collected from
Appalachian Kentucky. The arrangement gives clear prominence to the tune, sung by a tenor
soloist. After Jesus speaks to Joseph from the womb (still in the tenor’s voice), the cherry tree
bows down so that Mary can gather fruit. The overall effect is gentle, tender, and direct.
Trad. Mexican, arr. Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla: A la xácara xacarilla
There is a wonderful tradition in Central and South America, stemming originally from
Madrid, of xácaras or jácaras, rather raucous songs about Christmas as celebrated by regular
people, that are intended for performance outside the context of the liturgical church service.
You may recall one such piece from our 2012 program Navidad de Mexico; here is another.
Born in Spain, Padilla came to Puebla, the “second city” of Mexico in the 1600s, where he
eventually became maestro de capilla and where he was a prolific composer and arranger.
In addition to more formal church polyphony, he provided this transcription of a xácara,
complete with the usual elements: three-against-two rhythms (hemiola), verses with paired
rhyming lines (coplas), and a chorus of onlookers shouting “¡vaya!” Hold the translation
close by, and have fun as you listen to this one.
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Holidays a cappella
7
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
A la xácara xacarilla,
de buen garbo y lindo porte,
traigo por plato de corte
siendo pasto de la villa
a la xácara xacarilla.
Xacarilla de novedad,
novedad de novedades
aunque a más de mil navidades
que alegra la navidad.
To the joyous jamboree,
Of good grace and lovely bearing,
The village food that I carry
is a plate worthy of court,
to the joyous jamboree.
Celebration of newness,
Newness of newness,
although already a thousand yesterdays
has this happy birth gladdened.
¡Vaya, vaya de xacarilla!,
que el altísimo se humilla,
¡vaya de xácara, vaya!
que amor pasa de raya,
¡vaya, vaya!
Rejoice, rejoice in the revels!
for the Highest has become low;
rejoice in the jamboree!
For love exceeds all bounds;
rejoice, rejoice!
Coplas:
Agora* que con la noche
se suspenden nuestras penas
y a pagar culpas ajenas
nace un bello Benjamí,
si el Rey me escuchara a mí
¡oh qué bien cantara yo!
Como ninguno canto
del niño más prodigioso.
Verses:
Now with the night
our sorrows cease,
and to pay for our sing
a beautiful Benjamin is born;
If the newborn king will listen to my song,
Oh, how I will sing!
Like no other song will mine be
of the prodigious child.
Con licençia de lo hermoso
rayos desenvaina ardientes.
Escúchenme los valientes
esta verdadera historia
que al fin se canta la gloria
y a él la cantan al naçer.
General se vió el plaçer
que el velo a la tierra envía.
By leave of that beautiful child
who shoots burning rays,
let me tell the valiant-hearted
the true tale
that to the end the glory
of his birth be sung;
let all see the pleasure
that he was sent to earth.
Que en los ojos de María
madrugaba un claro sol;
con celestial arrebol
mostró la aurora más pura
muchos siglos de hermosura
en pocos años de edad.
Si no sol, era deidad,
y el sol es quien la ha vestido.
—trad. Mexican folk lyrics
In Mary’s eyes
rose a bright sun;
with celestial beauty
the purest aurora showed;
many signs of the loveliness
presaged in her at tender age.
If not sun, it was deity,
And the sun is the one who clothed her.
—English translation by Robert Stevenson
and Jonathan Miller
Mikhl Gelbart, arr. Mark Zuckerman: Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl (I am a little dreydl)
Mark Zuckerman is a New Jersey-based composer with a background in music theory and
composition who has devoted many years to applying his skills to traditional Yiddish song.
He has created dozens of arrangements, including rather religious songs and ranging all the
way to a truly authentic, fully Yiddish rendition of Bay mir bistu sheyn.
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Chicago a cappella
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
This setting speaks mostly for itself, being quite sweet and funny. Zuckerman has the lower
three voices begin by singing the names of the sides of the dreydl, each of which has one of
the four Hebrew letters nun, shin, hey, and gimel. Those four letters begin the four words
“Nes gadol hayah sham,” translated as “A great miracle happened there”—the miracle of the
oil in the Temple lasting for eight nights.
For the record: Mark Zuckerman’s arrangement of Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl
appears on Chicago a cappella’s CD Holidays a cappella Live.
Nun, shin, hey, giml...
(The Hebrew letters nun, shin, hey, and gimel)
Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl
Gemakht bin ikh fun blay
To lo mir ale shpiln
In dreydl, eyns, tsvey, dray.
I am a little dreidl,
I’m made out of clay,
Let’s all go a-spinning
With the dreidl, one, two, three.
Oy, dreydl, dreydl, dreydl,
o drey zikh dreydl, drey,
to lo mir ale shpiln,
in dreydl, eyns un tsvey.
—Mikhl Gelbart
Oh, dreidl, dreidl, dreidl,
o spin, dreidl, spin,
Let’s all go a-spinning,
With the dreidl, one, and two.
—English translation by Jonathan Miller
Trad. Polish carol, arr. J. Michael Thompson: Śliczna Panienka
The traditional Polish tune has been set for choir by J. Michael Thompson, a beloved choral
director and arranger who from 1988 to 1999 was the director of music at St. Peter’s in the
Loop on Madison Street in downtown Chicago. Thompson is also founder of the Schola
Cantorum of St. Peter the Apostle, a professional ensemble which has recorded prolifically.
An expert in Orthodox liturgy, music, and language, and a noted authority on chant, he is
ordained as an Eastern Orthodox priest. In 2001 he moved to the Pittsburgh to be professor
of liturgical chant at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius and
cantor/director of music at the Byzantine Cathedral there, posts he held for several years. He
remains active as a composer, author, and editor.
This gentle, rocking carol in 3/4 time tells of the humble hay (siano) in which Jesus was
laid. Thompson gives the setting great sweetness and tenderness, drawing our attention to
something so ordinary that we usually ignore it.
Śliczna Panienka Jezusa zrodziła
W stajni powiwszy, siankiem go okryła.
The beautiful Maiden bore Jesus;
In a barn she bore him, she covered him with
hay;
O siano, siano, siano jak lilija,
na którym kładzie Jezusa Maryja.
O hay, hay, hay like the lily,
On which lay Jesus and Mary.
Czemóż litości nie masz, Panno droga,
żeś w liche siano uwinęła Boga
O siano, siano, kwiecie drogi,
gdy się na tobie kładzie Bóg ubogi.
— trad. Polish carol
Why don’t you have pity, Maiden,
That in poor hay you bundled God;
O hay, hay, precious flower
When on you poor God is laid.
—English Translation by Kasia Dorula and
Jonathan Miller
Holidays a cappella
9
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
Trad. Latvian carol, arr. Juris Vaivods: Kaladō
As we learn from ethnographer Christina Jaremko-Porter, a kaladō is a song from Latvia,
the small country on the Baltic Sea, sung to celebrate the winter solstice. The repeated word
“kaladō” seems sort of like the word “Noel!” in other carols; here, the bouncy rhythm evokes
the movement of a sleigh through the snow. In Latvian custom, mummers (ritual dancers)
in a group (kopa) drag the Yule log through the village from household to household at
the end of the work-day on the farm. On December 21st, a Yule log is dragged through
the old town of Riga, the Latvian capital, with many receptions held featuring traditional
songs and refreshments. In this respect, the Latvian processions seem similar to the Puerto
Rican parranda, about which we’ll sing a bit later. The lyrics here seem to bring us into the
mind of one of the revelers, who is trying to figure out how generous (or not) to be with the
neighbors.
Atīdami Zīmassvātki, kaladō, kaladō,
kūjyus lobu atnasuši, kaladō, kaladō.
The winter holiday is upon us;
what good things will it bring?
Klāva raibu raibaļeiti, kaladō, kaladō,
stallī siermu kumeļeņu, kaladō, kaladō.
A spotted cow in the barn,
a grey horse in the stable.
Stallī siermu kumeļeņu, kaladō, kaladō
dasu kuli muguraī, kaladō, kaladō.
A grey horse in the stable
with a sack of sausages on its back.
Atīdami Zīmassvātki, kaladō, kaladō,
atnas dasu lelu kuli, kaladō, kaladō.
The holidays have come,
bringing a big sack of sausages.
Puišim dasu nadūsimi …
Puiši cyuku nabarōja ...
We won’t give any to the boys;
they didn’t feed the pig.
Uz brōļeisim gostus gōju ...
vucynʼ golva kuļeitēi …
I went to visit the neighbor boys
with a ram’s head in my bag.
Ka brōļeisi namīlōsi ...
Graussū sovu vucynʼ golvu …
If they won’t give me some holiday treats,
at least I’ll have the ram’s head to nibble.
Atīdami Zīmassvātki, kaladō, kaladō,
kūjyus lobu atnasuši, kaladō, kaladō.
—Latvian folk carol
The winter holiday is upon us;
what good things will it bring?
—English translation by Earthsongs
Jonathan Miller: Longfellow’s Carol
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the Boston-based poet of the mid-1800s, was an ardent
pacifist and abolitionist during the Civil War. He and his fellow abolitionist-pacifists
lamented any loss of life on either side as they fought their own wars of public opinion on
behalf of enslaved African-Americans. The poet begins this carol text joyously, by hearing
Christmas bells proclaiming peace on earth; however, his happiness is dashed by the
“accursed” cannonballs thundering forth from cannons in the Southern states, where the war
is being waged.
Jonathan Miller writes: “Sometimes, composing a single piece can go on for weeks or even
months. At other times, it happens in a flash. When I was thumbing through a book of carols
by Oxford University Press, looking for tunes for a concert, the Longfellow text jumped
out at me. I had not known it before. It virtually stood up and demanded of me, as poems
sometimes do, a new musical setting. When the book stays open to a page like that, there is
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Chicago a cappella
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
no resisting; in this case, before the evening was over, the piece was done. The fourth verse
in particular needs to be read with extreme sensitivity, to understand something important:
Longfellow is not cursing anyone with black skin in his phrase ‘black accursed mouth,’ but
rather the cannons made of black iron, from the mouths of which the terrible cannonballs
are fired. Longfellow seems to have a way to shake us out of our complacency and awaken
our compassion. His poetry unlocked, as I like to say, the key to my heart, which is the only
way I know how to write a new piece of music.”
I heard the bells on Christmas Day,
Their old familiar carols play,
And mild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearthstones of a continent,
And made forlorn the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (18071882)
Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Benjamin Britten: The Sycamore Tree
This is an early work by Britten, which he wrote in 1930 when he was 16 and revised for
publication in 1967, a decade or so before his death. It’s a rather unusual setting of a familiar
text, “I saw three ships,” taken from English folk traditions. There is something bracing and
fresh about this music, with a strong individual stamp unlike any other carol. The music
may take its inspiration from the opening verse, “I looked me out upon the sea.” The rhythm
is vigorous, the melody rather wavy, and the ending like a blast of sea air that comes when
you’re standing on the ship’s prow.
As I sat under a sycamore tree,
A sycamore tree, a sycamore tree,
I looked me out upon the sea
On Christ’s Sunday at morn.
O they sail’d into Bethlehem
To Bethlehem, to Bethlehem,
Saint Michael was the steeresman,
Saint John sat in the horn
I saw three ships a-sailing there,
A-sailing there, a-sailing there,
Jesu, Mary and Joseph they bear
On Christ’s Sunday at morn.
And all the bells on earth did ring,
On earth did ring, on earth did ring:
‘Welcome be Thou Heaven’s King,
On Christ’s Sunday at morn!’
—English folk poem
Joseph did whistle and Mary did sing,
Mary did sing, Mary did sing,
And all the bells on earth did ring
For joy our Lord was born.
Holidays a cappella
11
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
Vincente Carratini, arr. J. Miller: Si no me dan de beber lloro
The song draws on the Puerto Rican tradition of parranda, which involves going door-todoor, surprising people and grabbing them to join in the caroling, and staying up singing
into the wee hours of the night. In Puerto Rico as in Mexico and many other countries, the
primary holiday celebration of the birth of Jesus is not on December 25th but on January
6th, the festival of the three wise men or los tres Reyes (Epiphany). The sentiment of Si no
me dan de beber lloro is basically as follows: “Come on out with us and sing, and let’s have
a drink while we sing!” In fact, the last verse is a traditional Puerto Rican toast. This song,
originally by Vicente Carratini, is so popular that it has the status of a folk song in Puerto
Rico. It has amazing energy. Of course, since Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States,
you shouldn’t really be all that surprised to find a reference to Santa Claus in one of the
verses.
Refrain:
Si no me dan de beber lloro (3x),
Si no me dan de beber.
Refrain:
If you don’t give me anything to drink, I’ll cry, (3x)
If you don’t give me anything to drink.
Ésta era la casa, que yo te decía, (2x)
Donde Ia parranda dan mucha comida. (2x)
Refrain
This was the house that I told you about
That gives the parranda so much food.
Refrain
Prendiste la luz, metiste la pata, (2x)
Porque ahora sabemos que estás en tu casa. (2x)
Refrain
You turned on the light and blew it,
Because now we know you’re in your house.
Refrain
Los tres santos reyes junto a Santa Claus (2x)
tienen en la sierra sembrada una flor (2x)
Refrain
The three wise men, together with Santa Claus,
Have planted a flower in the mountains.
Refrain
Saca la botella, vamos a brindar. (2x)
Pa’arriba, pa’abajo, pa’al centro y pa’dentro. (2x)
Refrain
—Vicente Carratini
Reprinted by permission of SCSM Inc.
Raise the bottle, we will provide:
Up, down, in the middle, and within!
Refrain
—English translation by Jonathan Miller
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12
Chicago a cappella
UPCOMING EVENTS
BOUND FOR GLORY
No other music matches the power and sheer beauty of spirituals. This moving and joyous concert
includes early choral settings like Burleigh’s “My Lord, What a Morning,” as well as exciting contemporary and genre-stretching works by musical greats like Moses Hogan and Adolphus Hailstork.
Chicago a cappella will uplift your spirit at this glorious musical event.
Evanston
Saturday, Feb. 11, 8:00 pm
Nichols Concert Hall
Oak Park
Friday, Feb. 17, 8:00 pm
Pilgrim Congregational Church
Chicago (Hyde Park)
Sunday, Feb. 12, 4:00 pm
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
Naperville
Sunday, Feb. 19, 4:00 pm
Wentz Concert Hall
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
Favorite opera melodies take center stage in this fun-filled new concert created by ensemble
member Kathryn Kamp. Familiar overtures and arias are re-imagined for our a cappella ensemble,
with entertaining and inventive results. And if you’re not a fan of opera … this is the concert
for you, too! We’ll have some operatic laughs with wacky parodies, Gilbert & Sullivan silliness,
Broadway rock operas, and much more. The opera house has never been this fun!
Naperville
Friday, April 7, 7:30 pm
Wentz Concert Hall
Chicago (Hyde Park)
Sunday, April 22, 8:00 pm
Logan Center for the Arts
Evanston
Saturday, April 8, 8:00 pm
Nichols Concert Hall
Oak Park
Sunday, April 23, 4:00 pm
Pilgrim Congregational Church
Gala Concert
DANCING IN THE STREET: Music of Motown
Thursday, May 25, 2017
The Winter Garden at the
Harold Washington Library
Tickets and information: chicagoacappella.org or (773) 281-7820
Holidays a cappella
13
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
Catalan carol, arr. Anne Heider: Fum, fum, fum
This is a lively tune from Catalonia (the autonomous part of northeastern Spain that borders
France) in a fun arrangement by Anne Heider. There is not much documentation about this
song, but it has become a holiday staple, even in English-speaking countries, partly because
the short refrain is so appealing. “Fum, fum, fum” is a Catalan kind of “fa la la,” coming in
the middle and at the end of each verse. Heider’s setting moves the melody around to all the
voice parts. The “shepherds” in verse 2 are taken by the men, and in verse 4 there is a minifugue of sorts, with the parts each singing the melody in turn in a compressed round.
Trad. Polish, arr. Jacek Sykulski: Najświętsza Panienka
This remarkable piece comes to us from arranger Jacek Sykulski, director of a boys’ choir in
Poznan, a city in western Poland that is the country’s third main cultural city, after Warsaw
and Kraków. He has arranged melodies of many centuries and styles. He sent this one to us
when we asked him for some traditional Polish music, but what an arrangement! It combines
elements of Middle Eastern song, in a Jewish-sounding mode, with a Bolero-like rhythmic
underpinning in the lower parts, all the while preserving the original melody collected in
Poland.
Jacek Sykulski writes: “I found this piece at the beginning of the year 2000, as far as I
remember in an old carol songbook. Looking for something for my choir I found this
melody, with which I fell in love immediately. This theme was different from most other
tunes; that’s why it made my interest. Today I know, the melody was notated by Oskar
Kolberg, a very famous Polish ethnographer, folklorist, and composer, who lived in the 19th
century. It probably was a part of ‘Christmas dramas’. I wanted to not just arrange, but tell the
story about a young Jewish woman, looking for a proper place to give birth to Jesus. Quite a
dramatic story. So, in short, this was the idea for this setting.”
Najświętsza Panienka po świecie chodziła,
kiedy Pana Jezusa w żywocie nosiła.
Blessed Virgin around the world wandered,
when she carried the Lord Jesus in her womb.
Poszła Ona była do Betlejem miasta
i napotkała w drodze chłopka ubogiego,
i zaraz czym prędzej pobiegła do niego.
She had gone to Bethlehem city
And encountered a poor peasant
Immediately hastily she ran to him.
Mój ubogi chłopku, ubogi chłopeczku,
przenocuj mnie, przenocuj, w swoim budyneczku.
“Oh, poor peasant dear,
Let me stay the night in your small house.”
O prześliczna Pani, jak Cię przenocować mam,
mały budyneczek mam, do Boga dziatek mam.
“Dear Beautiful Lady, how can I let you stay here,
When my house is small and I have many
children?
O prześliczna Pani, pójdźże do tej szopy,
będziesz ci tam miała swój nocleg spokojny.
Oh Beautiful Lady, go to my stable;
You will have a good, calm sleep there.”
Wyszedł chałupniczek na dwór o północy,
[a] nad jego szopą śliczna gwiazda świeci.
The poor peasant, when outside at midnight,
And over his stable he saw a bright star shine.
Żebym [ja] był wiedział, Panienko, o Tobie,
że Ty dziś porodzisz Syna w mojej szopie,
byłbym ja się układł z dziatkami pod progiem,
a Ty, Najświętsza Panno, w izbie z Panem Bogiem.
“If I knew that you, oh Lady most Blessed,
Will give birth to the Lord tonight at my stable,
I would sleep outside with my children;
and you, Blessed Virgin, inside my House with the
Lord God.”
—English translation by Kasia Dorula
Reprinted with permission of Jacek Dorula
—Trad. Polish carol
14
Chicago a cappella
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
c o n t.
Spiritual, arr. Paul Carey: Ain’t Dat A-Rockin’ All Night?
Paul Carey, whose settings of spirituals have become some of our favorites, found this tune on
one of Odetta’s Christmas albums from the 1960s. The title might fool you into thinking that
this is a raucous, driving song, but it’s just the opposite. Carey manages to enhance the folk
melody with just enough harmonic dress to provide comfort and beauty, while keeping the
setting elegantly simple, allowing the melody itself to blossom toward the end.
Matisyahu, arr. Patrick Sinozich: Miracle
“Matisyahu” is the stage name for Matthew Paul Miller, who, despite his recent shift away from
orthodoxy, remains the world’s leading Jewish reggae artist. This song joyously celebrates the
miracle of Chanukah as well as the more common miracle of faith: “Bound to stumble and fall
/ but my strength comes not from man at all.” This setting was created for Chicago a cappella
by Music Director Emeritus Patrick Sinozich.
John Mason Neale, arr. Anne Heider: Good King Wenceslas (world premiere)
Music Director Anne Heider created this arrangement for these performances. She takes
an inventive and most expressive approach to the material. Parallel fourths abound, not an
interval series one hears often; these give her setting an archaic sort of sound, reminiscent of
medieval composers like Landini. Pay especially close attention to the treatment of the verse
starting “Sire, the night is darker now” – there is some fine word-painting here.
Benjamin Britten: His Piety and Marvelous Works (from Saint Nicolas, A Cantata)
In 1948, Britten and his partner Peter Pears teamed up for the premiere of this cantata, written
for Pears’ old secondary boarding school in Sussex. Britten took the story of the 4th-century
bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, told in a libretto by Eric Crozier, and set it for tenor solo,
chorus, treble semi-chorus, and simple chamber instrumentation including percussion that can
be handled by one professional and a cast of amateurs.
This excerpt is the eighth movement, with a text consisting of a series of miracles that St.
Nicolas performed, followed by a cascading melody, sung like a round, to the text “Let the
legends that we tell / Praise him with our prayers as well.” Anne Heider has adapted the music
for a cappella performance to round off our journey of tales and legends.
Holidays a cappella
15
N O T E S O N T H E M U S I C B Y J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
For forty years our Nicolas,
Our Prince of men, our shepherd and
Our gentle guide, walked by our side.
We turned to him at birth and death,
In time of famine and distress,
In all our grief, to bring relief.
He led us from the valleys to
The pleasant hills of grace. He fought
To fold us in from mortal sin.
O! he was prodigal of love!
A spendthrift in devotion to
Us all and blessed as he caressed.
We keep his memory alive
in legends that our children and
Their children’s children treasure still.
A captive at the heathen court
Wept sorely all alone.
“O Nicolas is here, my son!
and he will bring you home!”
“Fill, fill my sack with corn,” he said:
“We die from lack of food!”
And from that single sack he fed
A hungry multitude.
c o n t.
Three daughters of a nobleman
Were doomed to shameful sin,
Till our good Bishop ransomed them
By throwing purses in.
The gates were barred, the black flag flew,
Three men knelt by the block,
But Nicolas burst in like flame,
And stayed the axe’s shock!
“O help us, good Nicolas!
Our ship is full of foam!”
He walked across the waves to them
And led them safely home.
He sat among the Bishops who were summoned
to Nicea:
Then rising with the wrath of God
Boxed Arius’s ear.
He threatened Constantine the Great
With bell and book and ban:
Till Constantine confessed his sins
Like any common man.
Let the legends that we tell,
Praise him with our prayers as well.
We keep his memory alive
In legends that our children and
Their children’s children treasure still.
—Eric Crozier
arr. Jonathan Miller: Jingle Bells Hallelujah Chorus
Jingle Bells Hallelujah Chorus received more than 30,000 YouTube hits in the first six weeks
following its 2011 premiere by Chicago a cappella. Despite its dubious stature as a choral hit,
it has attracted conductors around the world and had more than three dozen performances
in Australia, Germany, Canada, several places in the UK, and all over the USA, prior to its
2105 publication by Hal Leonard.
Jonathan Miller writes: “The idea for this arrangement came while I was whizzing down
the Eisenhower Expressway on a beautiful summer day. I was thinking about Christmas
music, as choral conductors always do in July. I was in a happy and open mood, and wanting
to find something a little bit goofy for our holiday closer, and then it floated into my head:
‘Could you actually switch the words to Jingle Bells and the Hallelujah Chorus and make it
work?’ I went home and got out a pencil and my sketchbook, where I try to wrestle some
of my musical ideas to the ground. First, I wrote down the words to both songs to see if the
line breaks were at least in rough correspondence. It worked, fortunately. I threw in a brief
modulation and transition to piece the two songs together, and there it was. (My wife and
I giggled for hours at the way ‘Hallelujah’ became ‘in a one-horse...’) This is a song better
simply heard than described. Hang on, and—as we like to say in rehearsal—see you at the
double bar.”
16
Chicago a cappella
NEW OUTREACH PROGRAM
OUR NEW OUTREACH PROGRAM –
YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED!
For over 20 years, Chicago a cappella has promoted musical and cultural
diversity by offering underrepresented music from many ethnic, religious,
and cultural traditions.
Now, we are undertaking a major new initiative that will serve more of our
diverse city. ¡Cantaré! Chicago brings an acclaimed Mexican composer to
work in residence at Chicago schools. This year, composer Rodrigo Cadet
from Mexico City is working with schools in Chicago’s Pilsen, West Lawn, and
McKinley Park neighborhoods, writing new music especially for each school and
teaching students about the music and culture of Mexico.
WE NEED YOUR
SUPPORT TODAY!
To ensure this project’s success and support
all of our artistic and education programs,
please support Chicago a cappella with a
year-end gift.
• Get a donation envelope in the lobby
• or donate online at chicagoacappella.org.
And join us for the free culminating concert
of ¡Cantaré! Chicago on May 12, 2017, at
beautiful Rockefeller Memorial Chapel in
Hyde Park!
¡Cantaré! Chicago is a partner program of
VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! based in Minneapolis, MN.
Holidays a cappella
17
Chicago a cappella Outreach
Chicago a cappella’s Educational Outreach Programs strive to promote and
improve the life-long performance, understanding and appreciation of a cappella
vocal music through programming, mentorship and collaboration with schools and
community organizations in Chicago and beyond.
Youth Choral Festival
The Youth Choral Festival is a day of workshops,
rehearsals, discussions and mentoring for area high
school ensembles. The students work with Chicago
a cappella’s artists, and the festival culminates in
a concert featuring all the groups and Chicago a
cappella. The fifth annual Youth Choral Festival was held on November 12, 2016, at the
Logan Center for the Arts on the University of Chicago campus.
¡Cantaré! Chicago
¡Cantaré! Chicago is a new education program this
year that combines Mexican heritage with choral
singing. Rodrigo Cadet, esteemed Mexican composer,
will work throughout the school year with two
elementary schools and one high school in Chicago.
Rodrigo will compose new music for each school, and
the three schools, along with our High School Intern
ensemble and our Chicago a cappella singers, will
come together for a final performance on May 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM, at Rockefeller Memorial
Chapel in Chicago.
¡Cantaré! Chicago is a partner program of VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! based in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
High School Internship Program
Our High School Internship Program gives students
a full year of musical and administrative training
and mentoring with Chicago a cappella’s singers,
directors, board members, and arts administrators.
Selected through a comprehensive audition process,
six talented and motivated students are serving as
Chicago a cappella High School Interns in 2016-17, forming their own a cappella ensemble
and gaining skills to further their musical ambitions.
Customized Outreach
Other programs, such as master classes, choral residencies, and youth concerts, are presented
by artists from Chicago a cappella’s professional roster of singers and directors, and are
customized for the specific needs of each organization.
Learn more at chicagoacappella.org/outreach
18
Chicago a cappella
A B O U T C H I C AG O A C A P P E L L A
Founded in 1993 by artistic director Jonathan Miller, Chicago a cappella presents an annual
series of concerts, performs on tour and in special engagements, creates recordings and
broadcasts, and produces educational programs, all with an ensemble of the area’s finest
professional singers. The group is heard frequently on radio, including appearances on
Performance Today and BBC’s The Choir, and the ensemble’s own syndicated special A
Chanukah Celebration with Chicago a cappella. Chicago a cappella has recorded nine
CDs, including releases on the Centaur, Cedille, and Gothic labels, and has commissioned
new works from acclaimed composers including Chen Yi, Rollo Dilworth, Tania León, and
Joseph Jennings. The ensemble has performed on tour in 13 American states and in Mexico
and has made appearances at The Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and the
Art Institute of Chicago.
Staff
Founder and Artistic Director...................................... Jonathan Miller
Executive Director...................................................Matthew Greenberg
Marketing and Operations Manager......................................Joy Surber
Concert and Box Office Manager........................................... Rob Karel
Education Outreach Coordinator.................................. Susan Schober
Production Intern................................................................... Dina Pinos
Board of Directors
Claudia Divis, President
Gary Belkin, Vice President
David Perlman, Secretary
Stephen Shaw, Treasurer
William K. Flowers
Helen C. Gagel
Joyce Grenis
Robert B. Linn
Jennifer Marling
James G. Massie
Maria T. Suarez
David G. Thompson
William Wilson
2936 N. Southport Ave., Room 226 | Chicago, IL 60657
Phone (773) 281-7820 | Fax (773) 435-6453
[email protected] | www.chicagoacappella.org
Holidays a cappella
19
A R T I S T I C R O S T E R 2 016 -17
Jonathan Miller..........................................................................................................Artistic Director
John William Trotter..................... Principal Music Director (Birds and Bees; Bound for Glory)
Anne Heider................................................................ Guest Music Director (Holidays a cappella)
Paul Langford.................... Guest Music Director (A Night at the Opera; Dancing in the Street)
Benjamin Rivera........................................................... Guest Music Director (¡Cantaré! Chicago)
Ryan Cox........................................................................................................... Bass (Birds and Bees)
Carl Frank............................................................................................................ Bass (Entire Season)
Ace Gangoso................................................................................................Tenor (Holidays; Opera)
Garrett Johannsen............................................................................................Tenor (Entire Season)
Kathryn Kamp............................................................................................. Soprano (Entire Season)
Alexia Kruger........................................................................ Soprano (Holidays; Bound for Glory)
Joe Labozetta................................................................... Bass (Holidays; Bound for Glory; Opera)
Woo Chan (Chaz) Lee....................................................................................... Bass (Entire Season)
Trevor Mitchell................................................................Tenor (Birds and Bees; Bound for Glory)
Cari Plachy................................................................................................... Soprano (Entire Season)
Sarah Ponder...............................................................................................Mezzo (Holidays; Opera)
Emily Price...................................................................................................... Mezzo (Entire Season)
Angela Young Smucker................................................ Mezzo (Birds and Bees; Bound for Glory)
BIOGR APHIES
20
Carl Frank (baritone)
has received praise for
his “compelling”,
“spirited” and
“charming”
performances of a wide
range of repertoire
spanning opera and oratorio. Mr. Frank has
appeared with the Florentine Opera
Company and Arbor Opera Theater, and
been a featured soloist with the Milwaukee
Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony,
the Community Chorus of Detroit, and the
Lakeview Symphony. Favorite operatic roles
include: Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di
Figaro), Doncairo (Carmen), Sid (Albert
Herring), Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte), John
Brooke (Little Women), and Gianni Schicchi
(Gianni Schicchi). Also an active ensemble
singer, Mr. Frank performs with Chicago a
cappella, Music of the Baroque, Bach
Collegium-Ft. Wayne, The William Ferris
Chorale, Bella Voce, Schola Antiqua of
Chicago, and Musik Ekklesia. Mr. Frank
Chicago a cappella
received his Master’s degree from the
University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s
degree from DePauw University. He
currently resides in Chicago with his wife,
mezzo-soprano, Lindsey Adams and their
dog Fiona.
Ace Gangoso (tenor),
originally from Little
Rock, Arkansas, is now
in his seventh year living
and working in the
Chicago area. Now in
his fourth season with
Chicago a cappella, he also performs with
the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the
Grant Park Chorus. Ace works as a musician
for the Archdiocese of Chicago, serving as
the Director of Music at St. Cornelius Parish
and choral pianist for St. Patrick High
School. Additionally, he is a private voice
instructor at Highland Park High School. Ace holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music
Education from the University of Central
BIOGR APHIES
c o n t.
Arkansas, and a Master’s Degree in Voice
Performance from Northwestern University. He is a proud alumni member of Phi Mu
Alpha Sinfonia, the world’s oldest and largest
fraternal society in music.
Garrett Johannsen
(tenor) is proud to be
singing in his sixth
season with Chicago a
cappella! Originally
from Schiller Park,
Illinois, he graduated
from the Chicago College of Performing
Arts at Roosevelt University. His career
highlights include Carmina Burana at
Carnegie Hall with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus, Jane Austen›s
Persuasion at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
in Scotland with Chamber Opera Chicago,
former apprentice artist at Sarasota Opera
and soloist performances with the Elgin,
Elmhurst, and Waukegan Symphonies. He
has performed with the Lyric Opera,
Chicago Symphony and Grant Park
Choruses, Bella Voce and The William Ferris
Chorale. He has also performed in many
operas including Carmen, Les contes
d’Hoffmann, The Crucible, I Lombardi, Don
Giovanni, La bohème, Faust and La
Damnation de Faust. In his free time,
Garrett loves to go out to live theatre, live
concerts and play pool. Garrett is a member
of AEA and AGMA. You can follow Garrett
at www.garrettjohannsen.com.
Kathryn Kamp
(soprano). From the
stages of Chicago’s
Pritzker Pavillion and
Chicago Shakespeare
Theater to Frank Lloyd
Wright’s concert hall at
Taliesen and Muddy River Opera Company
in Southern Illinois, Kathryn Kamp has
created a career spanning oratorio, opera,
operetta and music theater. Her
performance of John Corigliano’s Fern Hill
with the Grant Park Music Festival was
described both “meltingly sung” and
“beautifully sung.” Her Despina (Cosi fan
Tutte) was “… a display of immense charm
and humor…she bounced about the stage
with a lightness and relish that seemed the
incarnation of mischievous delight…a fine
soprano voice.” Other credits include: Kathie
(The Student Prince), many Gilbert and
Sullivan ingenues, and Sondheim’s Anne
Egerman (Muddy River Opera) and Mrs.
Segstrom (Chicago Shakespeare Theater).
Concert performances include a staged
version of Bach’s Coffee Cantata, Mabel and
Yum-Yum (Pirates of Penzance and Mikado)
at the Grant Park Music Festival, and more
Messiahs than she can count. However, no
experience tops that of being a member of
Chicago a cappella.
Alexia Kruger
(soprano) recently
moved to the Beverly
neighborhood of
Chicago and is enjoying
exploring the historic
neighborhood with her
husband, toddler, and dog. A member of the
Grant Park Chorus and the Chicago
Symphony Chorus, Alexia has also been a
soloist with such groups as the Fort Wayne
Philharmonic, the Chicago Chamber
Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta at the Shedd
and at Joffrey, and the Chicago Modern
Orchestra Project. As a recitalist, Alexia has
appeared on the PianoForte Salon Series Live
on WFMT radio, on the Musicians’ Club of
Women Award Winners in Concert series at
the Chicago Cultural Center, the Fourth
Presbyterian Church Friday noonday concert
series, and several locations with VOX 3
Collective. Apart from her professional solo
and choral work, Alexia spends most of her
time identifying objects, attempting animal
sounds, and memorizing children’s books by
frequently reading them aloud, sometimes
many times in a row. You may also find her
digging in the dirt, listening to birds,
Holidays a cappella
21
BIOGR APHIES
c o n t.
watching the clouds, reading a book, or
organizing her house (a compulsive, though
satisfying, habit).
Joe Labozetta
(baritone). Since joining
Chicago a cappella’s
roster in 2011, baritone
Joe Labozetta has taken
great pleasure in singing
with such esteemed
colleagues. A career ensemble musician, he
also has an instrumental background.
Although perfectly content at a keyboard or
holding a guitar or bass, small-ensemble
choral music is what Joe most enjoys.
Beginning as a boy soprano with the
Grammy-recognized Ragazzi Boys’ Chorus
in northern California, he has continued to
pursue every choral niche, no matter how
obscure or exotic. Some of his stylistic
interests are: vocal jazz, Renaissance
polyphony, overtone-singing, vocal
percussion, and traditional Georgian
folksong. A graduate of DePaul University’s
School of Music, Joe currently holds the
position of Director of Music at St. Josaphat
Church in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of
Chicago. When not directing church choirs
or ensembles, composing hymnody, or
flailing away on the pipe organ, he regularly
sings with Chicago-based performing
ensembles. He has appeared with the
Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park
Chorus, Bella Voce, William Ferris Chorale,
Ensemble Alioni, The Rookery, and Schola
Antiqua.
Woo Chan (Chaz) Lee,
(bass) is honored and
excited to be singing
with Chicago a cappella.
Born in Korea and
raised part-time in the
United States, Chaz
currently resides in Hyde Park where he
studies musicology at the University of
22
Chicago a cappella
Chicago. His research explores the interplay
between Romantic aesthetics and neoliberal
political economy in contemporary
instrumental soundtracks and easy listening.
Parallel to his life as an instructor and
student at the University, he has performed
with a variety of ensembles as a conductor,
pianist, percussionist, and vocalist. As a
choral musician, Chaz can be heard singing
with other Chicago-area groups such as the
Grant Park Chorus, the Rockefeller Chapel
Choir and Decani, Bella Voce, Schola
Antiqua, and the Rookery Men’s Choir. In
between dissertation-writing and rehearsals,
Chaz can be heard singing along to Disney
movies, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and the
Backstreet Boys, which form the solid
bedrock of his musical education.
Cari Plachy (soprano)
is a highly respected
singer in Chicago. She
was recently featured as
a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Beyond the Score
Concert, Things Our Fathers Loved. She has
been seen throughout the Midwest with
Opera for the Young, DuPage Opera Theater,
Light Opera Works, and Bowen Park Opera.
Favorite roles include Mabel (Pirates of
Penzance), Yum-Yum (The Mikado), Gretel
(Hansel and Gretel), and Rosina (The Barber
of Seville.) She currently sings with Chicago a cappella and the Chicago Symphony
Chorus. In 2008, the Chicago Sun Times
said she had a ”sparkling, and aggressively
sung solo” as soloist in Bruckner’s Psalm 150
with the CSO. Cari received her Bachelor’s
degree in music education from DePaul
University. Since then, she has been working
with the Institute at the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, bringing music to children all
over Chicago. In addition to her work in
Chicago, Cari runs a home studio teaching
Musikgarten classes to babies, toddlers, and
preschoolers.
BIOGR APHIES
c o n t.
Sarah Ponder (mezzosoprano) enjoys a busy
career as a soloist and
ensemble singer in
Chicago. Hailed as
“Deeply expressive”
(Chicago Sun Times) and
a “first-class soloist” (Chicago Classical
Review), some of Sarah’s recent favorite
performances include two featured solo
appearances with the Grant Park Music
Festival, starring as Julia Child in Lee Hoiby’s
one-woman opera, Bon Appétit! and a
rousing trio rendition of “Row, Row Your
Boat” with Yo-Yo Ma at Children’s Memorial
Hospital as part of her ongoing work with
the Citizen Musician Initiative. Through her
outreach at Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
Sarah has also “beguilingly” (Chicago
Tribune) performed several solo concerts
with famed maestro Riccardo Muti at the
piano. A passionate educator, Sarah holds a
teaching position at Loyola University and
maintains a large private studio in addition
to supporting young composers in
workshops throughout the city. She also
recently finished recording works from
Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project partnered
with the CSO, assisting young mothers to
create original lullabies.
Emily Price (mezzosoprano) is a graduate of
Northwestern University
and enjoys performing
in opera, choral and
musical theater
productions. In Chicago
she sings with the Grant Park Chorus, Music
of the Baroque and Lyric Opera.
Internationally, she has performed in over
35 countries as a soloist with the Voices of
Baha International Choir in venues such as
Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and
the National Theaters of Spain, Catalonia,
and India. She has also performed with the
Czech National Symphony, Budapest
Symphony Orchestra, and the Warsaw
Philharmonic. Favorite theater productions
include the premiere of RESPECT! A Musical
Journey of Women (Cuillo Center/CCPA)
and Rona in The 25th Annual Putnam
County Spelling Bee (Drury Lane
Watertower). She can be heard on a number
of recordings, including The Voices of Baha
at Carnegie Hall, RESPECT! The Original
Cast Album, and a solo album to be released
entitled Songs of the Nightingale with the
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Anne Heider (Guest
Music Director) is an
award-winning
conductor, composer,
arranger, and teacher.
She is Artistic Director
Emerita of the Chicagobased professional chamber choir Bella Voce,
of which she was a founding singer and
which she led for over sixteen years to
consistent critical acclaim. Under her
leadership the ensemble made several
significant commissions, including the Stabat
Mater by Frank Ferko. She served on the
board of Chorus America from 1999 to 2008;
she is active as a guest conductor and choral
consultant. Choral octavos of editions and
arrangements by Dr. Heider are published by
GIA. Her 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 (founded as His Majestie’s
Clerkes) for Harmonia Mundi, Cedille
Records, Centaur Records, and Narada. She
is Associate Professor Emerita of Chicago
College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt
University. Anne Heider was the recipient of
Chicago a cappella’s first Tribute Award in
2006.
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23
BIOGR APHIES
c o n t.
Jonathan Miller
(Founder and Artistic
Director) created
Chicago a cappella in
1993 to give
accomplished ensemble
singers an experience of
performing eclectic and exciting repertoire
and to share the resulting beauty with the
world. A champion of innovative
programming, Jonathan has been the group’s
driving artistic force through more than 300
performances and nine commercial CD
releases, work which was recognized with
the 2008 Louis Botto Award for Innovative
Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal from
Chorus America. When Jonathan was a
teenage bass in the Chicago Children’s Choir,
he was bitten hard by the choral bug. He was
fortunate to be exposed to a wide range of
repertoire by a remarkable group of mentors,
including Christopher Moore, Lena McLin,
Max Janowski, Howard Mayer Brown,
Richard Proulx, John Nygro, and Anne
Heider. Eager to learn research tools for
choral music, Jonathan earned his doctorate
in historical musicology at UNC-Chapel
Hill. After returning to the Chicago area,
Jonathan led the choir at Unity Temple in
Oak Park for nine years and began
composing new choral music while serving
there. He has written more than 75 choral
works in a variety of genres and languages,
on the poetry of such writers as Mark
Jarman, Peter Watson Jenkins, and Leonard
Cohen; his music has been sung at venues
including St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York
City, the Lincoln Memorial, and the
Pentagon. His mashup “Jingle Bells
Hallelujah (Chorus)” is a minor hit, and his
series of Wacky Christmas Carols continues
to mix words and tunes in new
combinations. He also is a leading figure in
Jewish choral music, active as composer,
cantor, conductor, and producer. He serves
as high-holiday cantor at Congregation
Rodfei Zedek in Chicago’s Hyde Park
neighborhood. He conducted the Janowski
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Chicago a cappella
Centenary Concert at KAM Isaiah Israel
Congregation, also in Hyde Park, in 2012; he
received the Perelmuter Award at KAMII in
2013; and he was Scholar-in-Residence at
Lakeside Congregation (Highland Park, IL)
in 2014. He is the host for the new broadcast,
“A Chanukah Celebration with Chicago a
cappella,” on the WFMT Fine Arts Network.
An enthusiastic auctioneer for charity events,
Jonathan serves as Director of Choral
Catalog (and in-house choral arranger) at
Musicnotes.com and is a former board
member of Chorus America.
Matthew Greenberg
(Executive Director) has
served as Chicago a
cappella’s Executive
Director for 21 seasons.
Under his leadership,
Chicago a cappella has
grown from a founder-based startup to a
well-recognized and highly-respected arts
organization with broad community
support, a loyal audience base, and a solid
infrastructure. Matt has led workshops for
Chorus America’s national conference and
the Arts and Business Council of Chicago
and has served as a panelist for the Chicago
Department of Cultural Affairs granting
programs. He received his degree in music/
business from DePauw University, worked at
the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and
performed with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale
prior to launching his career in Chicago. As
a singer, Matt was a founding ensemble
member of Chicago a cappella. He appeared
frequently on Chicago’s concert and theater
stages, singing everything from Bach to
Broadway. He performed with many of
Chicago’s other leading ensembles, including
the Grant Park Chorus, Music of the
Baroque, the William Ferris Chorale, and the
Chicago Symphony Chorus, where he made
over a dozen solo or small ensemble
appearances.
SUPPORT CHICAGO A CAPPELLA
Chicago a cappella is a creative enterprise dedicated to
advancing the art and appreciation of ensemble singing. Through our performances and outreach programming,
we strive to enrich lives through music. Now, we hope you
will support our work to continue making great music and
positively impact our community.
DONATE
Make a gift today! Ticket sales cover only a portion of our costs. In
fact, as a not-for-profit organization, our single largest source of revenue
is the generosity of individual donors like you! Your tax-deductible gift
supports our educational and artistic work and allows it to thrive and
grow. Join our family of supporters by donating in the lobby, or online at
chicagoacappella.org/support.
VOLUNTEER
Give the gift of time and talent! We often seek volunteers for office
work and events, as well as for specialized skills such as music
librarian, photography and videography, and more. To receive periodic
emails about volunteer opportunities, contact Joy Surber at jsurber@
chicagoacappella.org or call 773-281-7820.
BOARD SERVICE
Our Board members are passionate individuals committed to guiding
Chicago a cappella to its next stage of success. Each brings a unique skill,
professional expertise, and personal and professional network, and all are
deeply supportive of our mission. To learn more contact Matt Greenberg
at [email protected].
CONNECT
Sign up for our e-newsletter at chicagoacappella.org.
Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/chicagoacappella.
Holidays a cappella
25
DONORS
THE ACCOMPANISTS
Chicago a cappella is honored to acknowledge members of The
Accompanists, a group of donors who make three-year pledges in support
of Chicago a cappella’s educational and artistic programs.
Gary Belkin and Ed Tuder
Claudia and Timothy Divis
William and Jeanetta Flowers
Helen Gagel
Marina Gilman
Joyce Grenis and Michael Koen
Lawrence Hamilton and Ann Hicks
Hank and Becky Hartman
Howard and Jane Hush
Margaret Huyck
Douglas and Christine Kelner
Murray Kopelow and Cathy Bachman
Leslie Lauderdale
Dan and Cari Levin
Robert and Fleury Linn
Jennifer Marling
Mary Miller
James G. and Christine Massie
Ruth Oberg
David and Carole Perlman
Bette Sikes and Joan Pederson
Monroe and Elaine Roth
Steve and Priscilla Shaw
Ann Stevens
Maria T. Suarez
David G. Thompson and Beatriz E. Medwecky
Barbara Volin
Dee Dee Whipple
William Wilson
KEEP THE MUSIC GOING
You can help ensure the ongoing success of our musical and educational programs
by including Chicago a cappella as part of your estate plan. Your commitment
provides an opportunity for continued financial support without a current cost.
Including Chicago a cappella in your estate planning can be done through any
number of vehicles, including bequests, retirement plans, and life insurance.
For more information contact Matt Greenberg at (773) 281-7820 or
visit chicagoacappella.org/support.
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Chicago a cappella
DONORS
We offer our deep gratitude to our contributors who made gifts and pledges to Chicago
a cappella since July 1, 2015. We regret that we are unable to list the many thoughtful
contributors who made gifts under $50. If this list contains an error, please accept our
apologies and kindly let us know so that we may correct it.
CORPORATE, FOUNDATION, AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
$10,000+
The Arts Work Fund for Organizational
Development
City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs
and Special Events
The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley
Foundation
The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture
at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Paul M. Angell Family Foundation
$5,000-$9,999
Children’s Care Foundation
Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation
Illinois Arts Council Agency
The Saints
$1,000-$4,999
Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest
MusicNotes
Oak Park Area Arts Council
Polk Bros. Foundation
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Up to $999
Amazon Smile Foundation
First Bank & Trust
Forefront
North Shore Community Bank
Northern Trust
Pierce Family Foundation
Press America
Matching Gifts
IBM International Foundation
Nuveen Investments
Media Sponsors
The Daily Herald
NewCity
WFMT 98.7 FM
INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS
VISIONARY
($10,000 or more)
Anonymous (2)
Lawrence Hamilton and Ann
Hicks
Hersch and Avril Klaff
Dee Dee Whipple
UNDERWRITER
($5,000 or more)
Claudia and Timothy Divis
Joyce Grenis and Michael
Koen
Vreni Naess*
David and Carole Perlman
Barbara Volin
GRAND BENEFACTOR
($2,500 or more)
Howard and Jane Hush
Murray Kopelow and Cathy
Bachman
James G and Christine
Massie
Bette Sikes and Joan
Pederson
Margaret and Ron Spears
Maria Suarez
BENEFACTOR
($1,000 or more)
Gary Belkin and Edward
Tuder
Bill and Jeanetta Flowers
Frank and Gertrude Dunlop
Fund
Helen Gagel
Hank and Becky Hartman
Dick Hewitt
Louise Holland
Margaret Huyck
Margaret and Gary
Kachadurian
Jay and Jackie Lauderdale
Leslie Lauderdale
Bob and Fleury Linn
Jennifer Marling
Dietra and Tony Millard
Mary Miller
Alice and David Osberg*
Doris Roskin
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27
DONORS
c o n t.
Monroe and Elaine Roth
Steve and Priscilla Shaw
Ann Stevens
David Thompson and
Beatriz Medwecky
Richard Tribble
Frank Villella*
Lance and Stephanie
Wilkening
William Wilson
PATRON ($500 or more)
Anonymous (2)
Bonnie Benson
Joan Ward and Joe Chandler
Laura and Gary Cooper
Harvey and Arlene Coustan
David and Lisa Davoust
Bonnie Forkosh
Stephen and Kathleen
Gaffney
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Chicago a cappella
Marina and Sander Gilman
Don and Joanna Gwinn*
Terri Hemmert
Ann Hewitt*
Thomas and Linda Kamp
Douglas and Christine
Kelner
Lindy Lauderdale
Dan and Cari Levin
Joan Davis Levin
Robert and Laure Mineo
Corinne Morrissey
Drs. Donald and Mary Ellen
Newsom*
Ruth Oberg
Dale and Donna Prest
Carolyn Sacksteder*
Marianne Schapiro
Linda Mast and Bard
Schatzman
Jennifer and Warren Schultz*
Jeni Spinney
John and Eileen Sterling
John and Marie Trotter
Laura and Bruce White
Duain Wolfe
SPONSOR ($250 or more)
Dr. Diane Altkorn
Tom Andrews
Marguerite Bloch
Martin and Debra D’Amico
Marlene Dubas
Katie Frankle and David
Goldman
Howard and Judy Gilbert
Sanford Greenberg and
Betsy Perdue*
Joan and Guy Gunzberg
Gregg and Sue Hartemayer
David and Nedra Heckler in
honor of Michael Mitzen
DONORS
c o n t.
Anne Heider and Steve
Warner
Nancy and Arthur Hirsch
Jim and Lois Hobart
Emily Troxell Jaycox and
Lonnie Jaycox in Memory
of Ephraim Miller
Shellena and Kevin Johnson
Charles Katzenmeyer
Rae Kendrick*
Robert E McKenzie
Betsy Meisenheimer and
Richard W. Westerfield
Michael and Phyllis Mitzen
Michael and Mary O’Malley
Michael Reed
Suzanne and Tim
Schoolmaster
Gordon and Evelyn Straw
Alvan and Hollis Turner
Gary and Beth Wainer
Shirlene Ward and Kevin
Kipp*
Tom and Denise Whennen
SUPPORTERS
($100 or more)
Paul and Mary Altman
Jovito M. Alvarez
Wendy Anker and Edward
Reed
Dian and David Barth
Susan Beal*
Allan and Jan Bergman
Steven and Betsy Blumenthal
Anne Bowhay and Jeff
Hanneman
Donna Brazulis in honor
of Walter and Dorothy
Brazulis
Frank Brockway and
Margaret Lonquist
Sigrid Brooks
Jennifer Burrus
Barbara Butz and Robb
Geiger
Maria K Carrig
Judy Chernick
Richard Cohn
Thomas and Sally Coyle
Henry and Ellen Criz
Jeanne Crowe
Jim and Ellen Dalton
Theodore and Ann Doege
Edward F. Dobbins in honor
of Bob Linn
Bruce and Jane Dresner
Ron and Judy Eshleman
Jim Fancher
Maurice Fantus and Judith
Aiello in honor of Helen
Gagel
Norma Felbinger*
Carma Forgie
Susan and Larry Frank
Terry and Judy Feiertag
Dale and Marilyn Fitschen
Dr. and Mrs. Melvin Gerbie
in honor of Michael Mitzen
Felix and Faith Germino
Alan and Marla Giblichman
Margaret Goldberg
Christopher and Barbara
Granner
Mark Greenberg
Judith Grubner and Craig
Jobson
Nina Hallquist-Sykes
Bill N Hensley
Terry Hodges
Arnold Hoffman and Janet
Jacobson
Charles Hoffman and
Tamara Schiller
Elizabeth J Hurtig
Joe Jania
Mark and Amy Jarman
Ellen Jorstad-Stein and Dr.
Adam Stein
Susan Kamp
Alex and Jennifer Karan
Peter P. Kezon and Barbara
Jacobs
George Klippel
Durema Kohl
Colleen Labozetta
Ivan and Jasna Lappin
Helen Lauderdale in honor of
Leslie Lauderdale
Barbara and Martin Letscher
Cheryl and Tom McRoberts
Dick and Linda Martens
Glenn Meade
Liz Meade
Sharon Meltzer
David Miller and Mary Ellen
McNish
Irving Miller
Alice E. Moss
Wendy Morgan
Alan Nesburg
Cathy and Paul Newport
Richard and Karen Olson
Richard and Cindy Pardo
Carolyn and Peter Pereira
Larry and Judy Pitts
John and Gail Polles
Stephen and Ruth Pordes
Susan Poser
Jane Ann Prest
Wendy and Wayne Rhodes
in honor of Michael Mitzen
Benjamin and Alexia Rivera
Rosemarie Rogers
Virginia Russell
Margo and Joel SchwartzNewton
Leonard and Lisa Servedio
Laura Smith
Les and Bev Smulevitz
Larry and Margaret Sondler
Gene and Mindy Stein
Amelia J Stone
Geri Sztuk
Peggy Sullivan
Dorothy and Casmir
Szczepaniak
Virginia Tobiason
Dave and Carolyn Utech*
Seth Wainer
Eileen and Dirk Walvoord
Tracy and Tony Weisman
Joanne Whitmore
Robert and Barbara
Wichmann
Monica and Alexander
Williams
Virginia Witucke
Robert Wolff
Cheryl Wollin
Dimis J. Wyman
Penelope Yunker
FRIEND ($50 or more)
Tom and Polly Aschom
Noel and Dan Barnes
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29
DONORS
c o n t.
Carole Baumgart
Charles and Roberta
Bernstein
Frank Brockway*
Dan and Amy Burke
Kristen Cerer
Ioanna and Robert Chaney
Tom and Sandy Cherubini
Sandy and Terry Clifford
Mary Coglianese
Susan M Crowell
Lynn and Jim Denton
Denise Freier
Evelyn Gaudutis
Jo-Ann and Stanley Gaynor
Jim Ginsburg and Patrice
Michaels
Sharon and Elliot Goldman
Pauline and Thomas
Grippando
Carolyn Hayes
Barbara Hofmaier and David
Heim
James Hoover
Valerie Humowiecki
Linda Kraft
Patience Kramer
Bruce Kuehl and Mary Jane
Cross
David and Darlene
Landsittel
Stephen and Lisbeth Lerner
Marshall and Laurie Levine
Paula Linn
Dianne and Philip Luhmann
Debra Magad in honor
of Michael Mitzen and
Monroe Roth
Mary and Steven Magnani
Ann C. Mallow
Ellen and Richard
Marchessault
Nora Linn Massey
Branka Matevich
Kathy and Jack Mattox
Dorothy B. Mayer
Don McKay
Daniel Melamed
David and Janet Midgley
Martha Miller
Sandi and Mike Miller
Jennifer Mitzen
Sandie and Bob Morgan
Belverd and Marian Needles
Sonia Ness and Peter
Jenkins*
Dr Kathleen A Occhipinti
Rosalie and Mark
Oppenheim
Shelby Parchman
Marjorie Pentland
Marianne and Bernard A
Phelan
Bonnie Poole
Elizabeth McCabe Postell
Jonathan and Joy Rosner
Iris and Gerald Rudnick
Maria A Sharkey
Howard and Roberta Siegel
Dennis and Patricia Smith
Hilary Smith
Jerry Smith and Dottie
Fugiel
Sara Stiefel
Daniel Stucker
Nancy Ellen Tauchman
Willard Thomen
James Venskus
Steven Warkentin
Barbara Washington
Waring and Ellen Webb
Deety Zbaraz Winograd and
Bruce Winograd
*Sustaining donor
T H A N K YO U
Production Support:
Chris Baer
Elizabeth Davenport,
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
Kasia Dorula
Mike Foster, Whitehall Hotel
Joycelin Fowler,
Pilgrim Congregational Church
Ken Hannah, Wentz Concert Hall
Anne Heider
Pavel Łukaszewski
Eric Miranda
Paul Nicholson and Patrick Sinozich,
St. Clement Church
Fiona Queen, Music Institute of Chicago
Tyler Pouros
Jason Schober
Carolyn Stoner, Chicago Symphony Chorus
Jacek Sykulski
In Kind:
Kristen Cerer
Norbert Shimkus Designs
Jim Parks
Press America
Thanks also to The Saints, Volunteers for the Performing Arts, for providing our house staff.
For information visit www.saintschicago.org or call 773-529-5510.
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Chicago a cappella
DONORS
c o n t.
IN KIND CONTRIBUTIONS (SINCE JANUARY 1, 2016)
4th Presbyterian Church
About Face Theater
American Rhythm Center
Arts N Spirits
AV Chicago
Ballroom Dance Chicago
Basketworks
Bella Voce
Bloom Yoga Studio
Broadway in Chicago
Capital Genealogy
Kristen Cerer
Chicago Athletic Clubs
Chicago Bears
Chicago Botanic Garden
Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus
Chicago Opera Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago Sinfonietta
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago White Sox
Chicago Zoological Society
City Lit Theater Company
Comedysportz Theater
Corepower
Court Theater
Dance Center Chicago
Dance Spa
Eataly Chicago
Eli’s Cheesecake
Emerald City Theatre
Ensemble Español
Evanston Symphony Orchestra
Field Museum
First Folio Theatre
Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
Goodman Theatre
Grant Park Music Festival
Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Howl at the Moon
IMAX at Navy Pier
Joffrey Ballet Chicago
Margaret Kachadurian
Kingston Mines
Koval Distillery
Maria Lagios
Lagunitas Brewing Company
Lifeline Theatre
Light Opera Works
Logan Center
Lou Malnati’s
Lyric Opera Chicago
May I Have This Dance
Merit School of Music
Metropolis Performing Arts Center
Lettuce Entertain You - Mity Nice Grill
Moksha Yoga Center
Morton Arboretum
Music of the Baroque
Norbert Shimkus Designs
North Central College
Northlight Theater
Nuns 4 Fun Entertainment
Old Town School of Folk Music
Om on the Range
Jim Parks
Pinstripes Bistro Bowling Bocce
Porchlight Music Theatre
Press America
Pride Films and Plays
Ravinia Festival
reflective beings
Remy Bumppo Theatre Company
Revolution Brewing
Rockefeller Chapel
Shedd Aquarium
Shiraleah
Sips on Sherman
Smylie Bros Brewery
Steep Theater
Strawdog Theatre Company
Sullivan Steakhouse
Swedish Bakery
Thodos Dance Chicago
Timeline Theatre Company
Treasure Island
University of Chicago Presents
Victory Gardens Theater
WFMT
Cheryl Wollin
William Ferris Chorale
Zanies Comedy Nite Club
Holidays a cappella
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Chicago a cappella