The Alexandria Choral Society (ACS) opens its 50th season Saturday, Oct, 19 with The Spheres, featuring composers Gabriel Fauré (Requiem), Ola Gjeilo (Sunrise Mass) and Alexandria’s Jonathan Kolm (Pieces of Night).
The society has nearly 100 members who practice for two hours every Tuesday.
Led by Artistic Director Brian Isaac, Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass is the focal point of the program, “taking us on a journey by incorporating texts from the Ordinary of the Mass with musical themes that evolve from nebulous and pristine to more emotional and dramatic, walking the listener along a spiritual path from the heavens to earth.”
Isaac is a singer himself, getting his start as a member of the men's glee club at the Naval Academy. After serving in the Marine Corps, he worked as a high school choir teacher in Damascus, Md. for six years. He and his wife, a public affairs officer for the Navy, recently moved to Alexandria.
"I'm really excited to make Alexandria my home," he said.
ACS will open its 50th anniversary season at Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall, located on the Alexandria Campus of Northern Virginia Community College. The Alexandria Society of Homebrewers will provide refreshments during intermission. The Homebrewers have created the perfect fall medley to complement this cultural experience, including an Oktoberfest, a Pumpkin Spice Anything Porter and Sunrise Sphere, a session IPA brewed exclusively for ACS.
"We, as the choral society, are trying to make choral performance accessible and fun," Isaac said.
Ticket information
- WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, 7:30 p.m. (reception to follow performance)
- WHERE: Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall, 4915 E Campus Dr, Alexandria, VA 22311
- TICKET INFO: For additional performance information and tickets visit www.alexandriachoralsociety.org.
Isaac is currently the artistic director of the Alexandria Choral Society, the Williamsburg Choral Guild and the founder/artistic director of Church Circle Singers in Annapolis. He holds a Master of Music in Music Education from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University.
The Alexandria Choral Society will celebrate its golden milestone with a full slate of performances this season, including:
- Dec. 14, Seek Out Light: This program features Will Todd’s Among Angels, a setting for choir and two harps, evoking images of “angels in flight.” A number of traditional holiday carols and works by composers Elizabeth Poston (Jesus Christ the Apple Tree), Susan Labarr (Huron Carol), and Herbert Howells (Magnificat ‘Collegium Regale) will ease patrons into the winter season ahead. This program will also include a matinee offering.
- March 7, 2020, Performance Art: An interactive program that aspires to “interpret visual art through choral performance.” ACS has partnered with visual artists from the greater Alexandria and Washington D.C. region who will showcase their art during the concert, and then auction it off as part of the 50th anniversary gala immediately following. Ben Hutchens and the Alexandria Kinderchoir will join in as special guests as ACS presents a world premiere of a new choral work by acclaimed composer Christopher Hoh.
- May 9, 2020, An American Songbook: ACS will celebrate the great American jazz composers, and those they later inspired, in a program called An American Songbook. The Alexandria Choral Society will perform works by Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter, as well as Jeff Buckley, Ben Folds and Simon and Garfunkel, to name a few. The evening will be joined by a talented local high school ensemble, selected via ACS’s ‘Sing-Off Grant Program.’
The Alexandria Choral Society was formed in 1970 as a component of the Performing Arts Association of Alexandria. ACS was independently incorporated in 1978. Beginning with the vision of founding director Francisco de Araujo, ACS has delighted audiences year in and year out, and the baton has passed from one illustrious hand to the next with a total of 11 artistic directors to date.
For more than 50 years, ACS performances have enriched the community with a broad spectrum of choral works from the Renaissance to modern American composers, from small chamber pieces to major works for chorus and orchestra, and from a great variety of musical cultures.
For major works, ACS has often collaborated with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Chamber Orchestra, the Fairfax Symphony and other instrumental groups from the Northern Virginia area. In addition, the chorale has sponsored a Sing-Off grant program for youth choirs.
With over 100 members strong, the Alexandria Choral Society aspires to enhance the cultural life of the city of Alexandria and surrounding communities by presenting diverse and engaging vocal music programs at the highest artistic level.
