The Providence Singers’ 2016-2017 season features exciting musical collaborations with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Aurea Ensemble, world premieres of new compositions by internationally-respected composer, Ola Gjeilo and Providence Singers Assistant Conductor, Michael Galib, and a studio-recording of Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living.
Mozart’s Requiem
Friday, October 14, 2016 – 6:30pm
Saturday, October 15, 2016 – 8pm
The Vets
Providence Singers 45th season opens with two performances of Mozart’s Requiem with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, under the direction of Grammy-Award winning conductor Bramwell Tovey, who has been called “One of the most versatile and charismatic musicians in the world” (Musical America).
Handel’s Messiah
December 10, 2016 – 7pm
The Vets
Christine Noel conducts the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Providence Singers, and soloists, Margot Rood, soprano, Christina English, alto, Marcio de Olivera, tenor and Nicholas Laroche, bass, in the tenth annual December performance of Handel’s masterwork.
Music for Chorus and Percussion
March 11, 2017 – 7:30 pm | Immaculate Conception Church, Cranston
March 12, 2017 – 3pm | St. Mary’s Church, Bristol
It’s not a combination that’s heard often: chorus with marimba, celesta, harp, finger-snaps, handclaps, bells, gong, and other percussion. The Singers will perform works by contemporary American composers Eric William Barnum, Dominick DiOrio, Dan Forrest, Eric Whitacre, and premiering a new work by Providence Singers Assistant Conductor, Michael Galib. Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Charles Ives’ Psalm 90 complete the program.
Music of Scandinavia and the Baltics
May 13, 2017 – 7:30pm | Central Congregational Church
May 14, 2017 – 3pm | St. Mary’s Church, Bristol
The Aurea Ensemble joins the Providence Singers to perform music of ?riks Ešenvalds, Ola Gjeilo, Edvard Grieg, Leevi Madetoja, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, and Jean Sibelius. The concert features six works by Gjeilo, including the world premiere of a work for chorus, piano and string quartet, commissioned by the Providence Singers through its Wachner Fund for New Music.
Upcoming Studio Recording
Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, performed by the Singers in November 2014, made a lasting impression on chorus and audience alike. (His Sanctus — “Pleni sunt caeli” / “The heavens are full”) — drew inspiration from images taken by the Hubble telescope.) In January 2017, the Singers will head to Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Mass., to record the piece, for chorus and chamber orchestra.
About Performances with the RI Philharmonic
Providence Singers have long held a close partnership with the RI Philharmonic performing together regularly. This season will be no exception. In addition to our traditional performance of Messiah conducted by artistic director, Christine Noel, this season will open with two performances of Mozart’s haunting and majestic Requiem Mass in D minor conducted by Grammy Award winning Bramwell Tovey.
About Christine Noel
Dr. Noel has conducted the Providence Singers with orchestra in Bach, Cantata 140, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore, and Haydn’s Nelson Mass, and most recently in Handel’s Messiah with the RI Philharmonic Orchestra. She has served on the music faculty and as Director of Choral Activities at Clark University, Worcester, MA; as Artistic Director of the Carillon Women’s Chorus; and as musical director at Trinity Repertory Company. She has prepared choruses for Larry Rachleff, Ann Howard Jones, Robert Page, and Michael Christie. She is Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning RI Children’s Chorus, which has performed at conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the Music Educators’ National Conference (MENC). An active festival clinician and adjudicator, she holds a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting from Boston University. She holds an undergraduate degree in Music Education from RI College, where she was awarded a Ridgway Shinn Study Abroad Grant, enabling her to spend a year of study at the Kodály Institute of Music in Kecskemét, Hungary. Dr. Noel completed the superior level of Italian studies at the Università degli Studi di Firenze (Florence) and served as assistant conductor and vocal coach for Italian choirs Animae Voces and Coro Polifonico di Caricentro di Firenze.
About The Providence Singers
The Providence Singers celebrate the choral art through concerts of masterworks and contemporary works, creative collaborations, new music commissions, and education programs.
Established in 1971, the Providence Singers is one of the leading choral performance organizations serving southern New England. Led by artistic director Christine Noel, the 100-voice auditioned chorus presents an annual concert series and frequently makes guest appearances throughout the region, including annual concerts with the Rhode Island Philharmonic. The chorus has also performed with the Kronos Quartet at the FirstWorks Providence Festival, and with Dave Brubeck at Lincoln Center and the Newport Jazz Festival.
Providence Singers advances the choral tradition through the commission and performance of new works, with support of its Wachner Fund for New Music. It also sponsors the Junior Providence Singers, a choral training and performance program for high school students and the Young Men’s Choral Festival in partnership with Rhode Island College, Bishop Hendricken High School and Warwick Veterans Memorial High School. Providence Singers receives general operating support from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.