In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument
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The Milwaukee Choral Artists (MCA) is Wisconsin's premier professional choral ensemble, and one of only five professional women's choral ensembles in the country. With its signature lush sound, MCA brings a distinctive repertory of choral and vocal masterworks-including well-known pieces, new music, seldom-performed works, and music of diverse cultures and historical periods-to concert audiences throughout the region. Founded in 1998 as a chamber ensemble comprised of professional solo singers, MCA occupies a singular position of excellence in the city, state, and region. In December 2007, Tom Strini, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Music Critic, named the Milwaukee Choral Artists-Present Music collaborative performance of Olivier Messiaen's "Trois Petites Liturgies" (with MCA's Sharon Hansen conducting) the #1 Performing Arts Event of the Year. Two years previously, MCA's "Liederabend" was named the Journal Sentinel's #1 performing arts event of 2005; of the top ten events named that year, MCA held two positions. Regularly hailed for its imaginative programming, the group has quickly established itself in the mainstream of professional music making both within and beyond Milwaukee. Milwaukee Choral Artists enjoys regular appearances with Present Music, Milwaukee's internationally acclaimed contemporary music ensemble. In 2006, the Milwaukee Choral Artists joined Present Music in the world premiere of Kamran Ince's "Hammers and Whistlers," which Journal-Sentinel music critic Tom Strini selected as one of his "Top Ten Performing Arts Events" for the year. Under Hansen's baton, the two ensembles also presented the 2005 world premiere of Milwaukee-born composer Daron Hagen's "Flight Music," a six-movement work with texts by Amelia Earhart, named by Strini as "Best Musical Premiere of 2005." In November 2004, MCA and Present Music performed the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Henry Brant's "Wind, Water, Clouds and Fire," which Tom Strini also selected as one of his "Top Ten Classical Music Events for 2004." Equally well versed in early music, the Milwaukee Choral Artists has performed twice with the internationally acclaimed The Boston Camerata, presented by Early Music Now (the Midwest's renowned early music presenting organization.) In May 2009, MCA was heard once again on the Early Music Now stage when they joined San Francisco's professional female vocal ensemble KITKA in a collaborative concert. MCA has also performed as part of the Fine Arts Concert Series at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist (Milwaukee) and St. James Cathedral (Chicago), at the national convention of Catholic Cathedral Musicians, and in state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors' Association. The Milwaukee Choral Artists performs three regular season concerts each year at historic venues throughout the Milwaukee area. Committed to presenting music from diverse cultures, the ensemble has performed music in twenty-eight languages from more than forty world cultures since its inception. |
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