Chicago's premier vocal ensemble
"pristine and ethereal"
— Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune's 2024 Best of the Best of the Best
Our 45th Season, 2024-2025
OAK PARK, IL
CHICAGO, IL
Photo by Beth Albrecht
OCT
26
OCT
27
Monteverdi's
Other Vespers
Oct 26, 7:30pm:
First United Church of Oak Park
848 Lake St, Oak Park
Oct 27, 4pm:
St. Josaphat Catholic Church
2311 N Southport, Chicago
Claudio Monteverdi is best known for his impressive Vespers of 1610, but for decades more, as maestro di capella at St. Mark's in Venice. he continued writing glorious music for the Vespers service.
In 1641 he finally published a collection of that music, and from this The Oriana Singers assemble a different, "other" Vespers every bit as moving and impressive as his earlier effort. In addition to Monteverdi's psalm settings, we include Vespers music by his contemporaries: Juan de Padilla and Giovanni Rovetta, plus instrumental music for two violins.
The Oriana Singers is an ensemble of Chicago's greatest singers under the direction of William Chin.
ROSEMONT, IL
Andrea Bocelli
World Tour
Dec 11, Allstate Arena
The Oriana Singers are invited again to join international superstar Andrea Bocelli and his orchestra for a concert of songs celebrating the power of music to soothe and delight the soul, as well as a selection of arias, famed love songs, and beloved choral pieces. For this concert, The Oriana Singers expand to an epic sixty- voice choir.
DEC
11
OAK PARK, IL
Sing We Joyous 2024
December 14 &15 First United Church of Oak Park
848 Lake St, Oak Park
Three choirs, special guests, and the Sing We Joyous Orchestra once again create the beautiful music and warm-hearted joy you’ve come to expect from this beloved concert for the whole family.
Old friends, new delights, Renaissance treasures, grooves from the 70s and more combine to make this glorious holiday party.
This year, The Twelve Days of Christmas take over the show, as we perform songs representing each item on the beloved gift list.
The Oriana Singers, City Voices, and Pro Musica Youth Chorus can't wait to create this year's version of our annual holiday gift to the community we love. We'll see you there!
DEC
14
DEC
15
Original Illustration by M. Albrecht
7:30pm
United Lutheran Church
Oak Park
4pm
The Columbarium at
Bohemian National Cemetery,
Chicago
Chicago, IL
Oak Park, IL
Music of
Heaven & Hell On Earth
Mar 15, 7:30pm:
United Lutheran Church, 409 Greenfield
Oak Park
Mar 16, 4pm:
The Columbarium at Bohemian National Cemetery
5255 N Pulaski
Chicago
Is there a heaven? What would heaven look like?
Is there a hell? Would heaven or hell be the same for everyone?
What is heavenly isn't always connected to belief in the divine or the supernatural.
Some people have conceived of utopias. Heaven on earth, perhaps. They never seem to work out for very long. But we keep trying.
It’s easy to imagine hell on earth. We see examples every day. It’s easy to find music about hell on earth. We live in a time where you can’t help but encounter dystopian novels or movies. It’s much harder, though, to find music about utopias. Though there’s a lot of music about religion, there’s not so much about heaven on earth.
Why is that?
Music of Heaven and Hell on Earth is a program of music for voices that addresses these ideas. There will be music from the utopian Shakers and also from Philip Glass’s music for the movie Koyaanisqatsi (Life Out of Balance). We will talk about genocide in Peter Louis van Dijk’s Horizons and hear Eric Whitacre’s non-religious but heavenly Alleluia. Vienna Teng’s Hymn of Acxiom is a beautiful indictment of data mining. And more music from Director Bill Chin's questioning and creative brain.
Two new venues for The Oriana Singers make their debut with these concerts. United Lutheran Church is an open space with beautiful stained glass and excellent acoustics. The beautiful and resonant domed Ceremony Hall inside the Columbarium at historic Bohemian National Cemetery is the location of the Chicago performance.
98.7 FM Chicago www.wfmt.com/listen
The Oriana Singers on WFMT
Live from WFMT
April 21, 8:00 PM Central
Oriana’s eight-voice ensemble returns to WFMT’s Levin Studio to perform works both accompanied and a cappella. Repertoire will feature music from their recent Music of Heaven and Hell on Earth concerts that explore the sublime, the ridiculous, and the terrifying about life on earth, including works by Meredith Monk, Philip Glass, and Eric Whitacre. They'll also perform highlights from earlier in this 45th anniversary season.
(archive photo from 2020 live broadcast on WFMT)
Photo by Julian Chin
Best of Studs Terkel
April 18, 11:00 PM Central
Go back to 1989 and the ensemble's tenth anniversary season for an interview on the Studs Terkel Show, with Studs himself talking to Bill Chin and The Oriana Singers. The ensemble for that broadcast included Ann Corning, soprano; Suzan McQueen, alto; Eric Reese, bass; and Peter Muckenhirn, piano.
Photo by Free Chin
ARCHIVES
2023-2024
OAK PARK, IL
Sing We JOYous 2023
December 9 & 10: First United Church of Oak Park
848 Lake St, Oak Park
Three choirs, special guests, and the Sing We Joyous Orchestra once again create the beautiful music and ridiculous hijinks you’ve come to expect from this beloved concert for the whole family.
With music from William Byrd, John Rutter, Three Dog Night and much more, celebrating the joy of music and the joy of being together.
DEC
9
DEC 10
Monteverdi created this stunning piece with the intention to impress. Join us, with City Voices Choir and a chamber ensemble of period instruments, for a rare live performance of this glorious, passionate work.
OAK PARK, IL
CHICAGO, IL
Monteverdi Vespers of 1610
OCT
28
October28: First United Church of Oak Park
848 Lake St, Oak Park | 8:00 pm
October 29: St Josaphat Parish
2311 N Southport, Chicago | 4:00 pm
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) stood at the musical transition point from the Renaissance era to the Baroque, and his music captures the beauty, passion, and brilliance of that moment in music history. His collection of Vespers pieces, Vespro della Beata Vergine, published in 1610, features choral and instrumental music of sublime power and beauty, vocal solos of operatic brilliance. The Oriana Singers are the soloists in these performances and provide the vocal forces along with City Voices, the Oak Park-based community chorus. They are joined by an ensemble of period instruments.
OCT
29
2023
2022-2023
ROSEMONT, IL
Andrea Bocelli
World Tour
Allstate Arena
The Oriana Singers are invited again to join international superstar Andrea Bocelli and his orchestra for a sold-out concert of songs celebrating the power of music to soothe the soul, as well as a selection of arias, famed love songs, and beloved choral pieces. For this concert, The Oriana Singers expand to an epic sixty- voice choir.
DEC10
DEC
10
MAY
20
OAK PARK, IL
Sing We Joyous! 2022
First United Church (848 Lake St.)
The beloved annual extravaganza returns with old friends and new surprises. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be utterly delighted with "the best Christmas show, ever!"
We'll have the usual mix of beautiful music of the season, outrageous (but family-friendly) high jinks, and multiple ensembles crowding the stage. This year’s concert features music from many countries and many musical worlds. And what on earth might happen in the Twelve Days of Christmas? Come and find out!
DEC
10
DEC
11
2021–2022
Heading 1
OCT
14
ROSEMONT, IL
Andrea Bocelli's
Believe World Tour
Allstate Arena
The Oriana Singers expands to a sixty-voice choir to join international superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli and his orchestra for a concert of songs celebrating the power of music to soothe the soul, as well as a selection of arias, famed love songs, and beloved choral pieces.
OAK PARK, IL
Sing We Joyous! 2021
Together Again
First United Church (848 Lake St.)
This year we celebrate being back together with the people and events we love.
Three choirs, special guests, and the Sing We Joyous Orchestra create the beautiful music and ridiculous hi-jinks you’ve come to expect from this beloved concert for the whole family. We’ll bring you the annual adaptation of the Twelve Days of Christmas, audience carol “sing”-alongs and special effects that make this “the best Christmas show ever!”
Join us as we rejoice in the return of classic holiday traditions.
DEC
11
DEC
12
2020–2021
Intergalactically released
Sing We Joyous: At Home
The beloved annual extravaganza made an online debut, with all the usual players: The Oriana Singers, City Voices, Pro Musica Youth Chorus, The Sing We Joyous Orchestra, the OPRF Marching Huskies drumline, and guest performances. It was the best one ever, when we needed it the most.
Watch: Sing We Joyous 2020
This program was funded in part by grants from the Oak Park Area Arts Council and the Illinois Arts Council Agency
2019–2020
OCT 19
O A K P A R K , I L
No Land Beyond
Music at the intersection of civilization and nature, of utopia and dystopia
First United Church (848 Lake St) | 8:00 pm
The Oriana Vocal Collection—The Oriana Singers, City Voices, and The Rookery— join in a program of resonant music from Philip Glass's score for the movie Koyaanisqatsi, Peter Louis van Dijk's Horizons, Vienna Teng's Hymn of Acxiom, Veljo Tormis's Curse Upon Iron, Ted Hearne's Because, and William Byrds' Ne irascaris, Domine.
This program is funded in part by grants from the Oak Park Area Arts Council and the Illinois Arts Council Agency
OCT 20
CLARENDON HILLS, IL
The Book of Love
Community Presbyterian Church of
Clarendon Hills (39 N Prospect Ave) | 3:00 pm
The Oriana Singers inaugurate the new concert series at Community Presbyterian Church of Clarendon Hills with The Book of Love. It’s music, from many times and places, about love: having it, not having it, wanting it, losing it. There will even be music that isn’t about love at all. There will be songs by Ben Folds and Imogen Heap, folk songs from Britain and Finland, and Renaissance madrigals.
The Oriana Singers are supported in part by grants from the Oak Park Area Arts Council and the Illinois Arts Council Agency
OCT 22
CHICAGO , I L
No Land Beyond
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
5850 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago | 4:00 pm
In a special Chicago Architecture Biennial-themed entry in Rockefeller Chapel's weekly Tea & Pipes series, University Organist Thomas Weisflog collaborates with The Oriana Singers and The Rookery in a program of resonant music from Philip Glass's score for the movie Koyaanisqatsi, Peter Louis van Dijk's Horizons, and Vienna Teng's Hymn of Acxiom.
Supported by the Chicago Architecture Biennial Fund.
The Oriana Singers are supported in part by grants from the Oak Park Area Arts Council and the Illinois Arts Council Agency
![RMC327 No Land Beyond Poster L1[4].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d886f6_85d326ca7de4496cb79ab0aa8f068ae5~mv2_d_6600_10200_s_4_2.jpg/v1/crop/x_166,y_186,w_6228,h_9848/fill/w_301,h_476,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/RMC327%20No%20Land%20Beyond%20Poster%20L1%5B4%5D.jpg)
NOV 3
RIVERSIDE, IL
Beethoven
Choral Fantasy
Ascension Lutheran Church
400 Nuttall Road, Riverside | 4:00 pm
The Oriana Singers are the vocal soloists in this performance of Beethoven's masterpiece in miniature, featuring piano soloist John Goodwin and a chamber orchestra and chorus directed by Bill Chin.
The Oriana Singers are supported in part by grants from the Oak Park Area Arts Council and the Illinois Arts Council Agency
DEC 14
DEC 15
OAK PARK , I L
Sing We Joyous!
Fourteenth Annual Holiday Concert
First United Church (848 Lake St) | 7:30 pm
The Oriana Singers, City Voices, Pro Musica Youth Chorus and the Sing We Joyous Orchestra bring you this year's edition of beautiful music, heartfelt audience carols, and inventive zaniness all wrapped up in a holiday package for the whole family. The theme this year is stars, so be ready for everything from traditional choruses by Mendelssohn and contemporary classics by Lauridsen, to songs from Home Alone and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Plus, as always, a surprise arrangement of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
The Oriana Singers are supported in part by grants from the Oak Park Area Arts Council and the Illinois Arts Council Agency
FEB 1 & 2
CHICAGO , I L
Northern Light
February 1: St Josaphat Parish
2311 N Southport, Chicago | 8:00 pm
February 2: First United Church of Oak Park
848 Lake St, Oak Park | 4:00 pm
The Oriana Singers and City Voices sing “Northern Light,” a concert of choral music by composers from the Baltic countries. The music ranges from accessible and inventive pieces by Latvia’s Eriks Esenvalds (Only in Sleep; Long Road) to the majestic O Crux of Norway’s Knut Nystedt. There is also music by classical superstar Arvo Pärt (Magnificat) and his fellow Estonian, Urmas Sisask.
The Oriana Singers are supported in part by grants from the Oak Park Area Arts Council and the Illinois Arts Council Agency
Hear The Oriana Singers perform live on WFMT Monday, Jan. 27th, 8pm.
https://www.wfmt.com/2021/02/08/orianna-singers-rebroadcast/