Acclaimed for the beauty, precision and expressive qualities of their singing, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Choruses have been an important part of the Orchestra's programming since their founding in 1970 by the late Robert Shaw. Both are composed entirely of volunteers, who meet weekly for rehearsals and perform with the ASO several times each season. They are also featured on the majority of the ASO's recordings, having garnered 13 Grammy awards (9 for Best Choral Performance; 4 for Best Classical Recording).
The ASO Chorus, 200 voices strong, performs large choral-symphonic works with the full orchestra, under the batons of ASO Music Director Robert Spano and ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles. The Chorus also sings for guest conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Charles Dutoit, Alan Gilbert, John Nelson and William Fred Scott.
The ASO Chamber Chorus performs music of the Baroque and Classical eras, as well as works by modern masters such as Lauridsen, Paulus, Pärt, Poulenc and Britten. Highlights of its history include participation with the ASO in Telarc recordings of masterworks by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn, and Schubert, an appearance on national television in 1987 performing Handel's Messiah under Robert Shaw's baton, and several Carnegie Hall appearances with Shaw which include performances of the B-Minor Mass, the Matthew and John Passions of Bach and the Rachmaninoff Vespers. The Chamber Chorus has also performed under the batons of Robert King and Nicholas McGegan.
The ASO Chorus made its Carnegie Hall debut in 1976 with a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and has returned to perform there on a number of subsequent occasions, most recently on May 1, 2004 with the ASO and Robert Spano for a performance of the Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony. It performed in the Kennedy Center for President-elect Jimmy Carter's Inaugural Concert in 1977. In 1988, it accompanied the Orchestra on its first European tour, performing in New York, East Berlin, Zürich, Ludwigsburg, Paris, Bristol and London. It has appeared with the ASO for televised concerts on several occasions, including the 1995 national broadcast of the orchestra's 50th-anniversary celebration, in which it was conducted by both Yoel Levi and Robert Shaw, and the statewide telecast honoring the Chorus's own 25th anniversary. With the ASO it appeared in the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games, broadcast worldwide. In June 2003 the Chorus, ASO and Robert Spano opened the Ravinia Festival in Chicago with a critically acclaimed performance of John Adams oratorio El Niño, followed in December 2003 by a Chorus trip to Berlin for a series of three triumphant performances of Britten's War Requiem with the Berlin Philharmonic and conductor Donald Runnicles. The Chorus also opened the Atlanta Falcons 2003 and 2004 seasons with a 200-voice rendition of the National Anthem.
For further information regarding the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus (including audition information), visit
www.asochorus.org, call 404-733-4876, or e-mail the Choral Administrator at
jeff.baxter@woodruffcenter.org
