The first Windy City Music Festival, with Anima as the host chorus, was a huge success. Our own Emily Ellsworth and Rollo Dilworth (North Park University School of Music) were joint clinicians for this great festival. Eight Choruses participated from the Alaska Children's Choir to the Bentonville, Arkansas Children's Choir to the New Jersey Youth Choir and the Oregon Repertory Singers. These wonderful groups of singers came together as a whole to perform a culminating concert at Chicago's Symphony Center. Scott Joplin's "We're Goin' Around" from Treemonisha was a big hit and featured a solo by Anima chorister Ian Koziara. Choristers and audience alike loved the operas including Bartered Bride and Die Zauberflote with alumna Lindsay Kesselman.

Choristers visited Navy Pier, took a boat tour on Lake Michigan, and enjoyed the food and fun of Chicago. The night before they all performed together, they took turns performing for one another and had a great time enjoying each other's music and reveling in the excitement of discovering shared repertoire.  

Welcome New Board Members

We are thrilled to welcome four new members to our board:

Suzanne Armstrong is Executive Vice President and General Counsul of Suburban Bank & Trust and a Glen Ellyn resident. She is looking forward to meeting new people and helping to forward the Chorus mission.

Kay Kendall is past Executive Director of the Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce and will bring to the board a broad based knowledge of the local community.

Cindy Matre is an attorney and a parent of a current chorister. She lives in Wheaton and is looking forward to working with an organization that has meant so much to her child. 

Dave Mook works at JP Morgan Chase and is a parent of a recent alumna. He is looking forward to supporting the chorus as an active board member. 

Since leaving the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, I attended Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois studying Voice Literature and Performance.  While at Concordia, I participated in the Kapelle Choir, honors recitals, toured nationally and internationally, appeared as soloist in daily chapel services, and a two time winner of the annual solo and concerto competition.

After completing my Bachelor’s I was on staff at Crème de la Crème in Warrenville, Illinois teaching early childhood through kindergarten general music and taught private voice and piano lessons at Stacey De and Company in Lombard, Illinois.  I also was a member of the New Classic Singers and appeared in the chorus of the DuPage Opera Theater’s production of Gounod’s Faust.

I recently completed my Master’s degree in voice performance and pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey.  I was a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir singing Verdi’s Requiem under the direction of Joe Miller, and Mahler’s Symphony Nos. 2 and 4 under the baton of Pierre Boulez and Neeme Järvi.  I sang the mezzo soprano role of Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff with the Westminster Opera Workshop and acted as a supernumerary in Handel’s Oreste with the Westminster Opera Theater.

Currently, I am a member of the Princeton Festival’s opera chorus, an active church musician performing in the New York and Philadelphia areas, and teaching private voice and piano lessons. 

Summer is in full flower, bringing a respite from the intense June rehearsal schedule and the exciting August performances to come.

Amidst some gardening, correspondence, time with both human and book friends,  chorus preparations for the new season continue. Final repertoire decisions need to be made – always a rewarding and consuming project at this time of the year.

How is music chosen for our ensembles?  Many factors come into play:

1)  The quality of the material – both music and text.  The greatest music has the most to teach us, and will seem new each time we return to it.  That includes the classics which have endured the test of time, but can also embrance music in any style or era that possesses craftsmanship, originality, and sensitivity to text –music which passes the “fresh” test week after week.

2)  Diversity of programming, considered in both the short and the long term.  What have our singers sung in one year’s time?  In five years?  Are there educational gaps in terms of musical style, genre, or language that need to be filled?

3)  The ability of the music to ignite passion and imagination in conductor, singers, and audience. 

4)  Effective programming, thematic or otherwise, both at our home concerts and in guest appearances. 

5)  Appropriateness of challenge for each level of chorus participation – setting the scene for success and accomplishment for all of our singers.

6)  Consideration of specific projects or collaborations which require specific repertoire, such as the recording of a new CD.  How does this fit into the other requirements?

7)  Availability and needs of guest artists.

No wonder this is an absorbing task each season!  It’s the foundation of our work in so many ways – determining our musical focus for the season, our teaching strategies, and our means of impacting young lives at every rehearsal. 

So – back to work.  The stacks of music are calling…….