A Fall Choral Preview

September 13, 2025, 4:00 pm

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Nine men of Cappella Pratensis in dark suits huddled around one large musical score, hands of at least three of them supporting it; light source seems to be the score as all of their faces are lit from below and the background is almost pitch black.
Cappella Pratensis (Photo: Eduardus Lee)

Choral music lovers, grab your calendars for WFMT’s recommended events this fall.  Events are listed in chronological order with links for more information below.

Music of the Baroque
Orfeo ed Euridice
September 14+15

Chicago a cappella
Cantaré
September 27–October 12

Bella Voce at the Ear Taxi Festival
Lost Objects
October 3

Consonance
Sacrificial Love: Human and Divine
October 3+5

Constellation Men’s Ensemble at the Ear Taxi Festival
pouring from empty cups
October 4

Apollo’s Fire
Dido & Aeneas
October 4+5

La Caccina *at the Ear Taxi Festival
Weird Sisters
October 5*, 25+26

William Ferris Chorale at the Ear Taxi Festival
The Lost Birds
October 11

Vox Venti
Cosmos
October 11

Stare at the Sun *at the Ear Taxi Festival
Midwestern Tongues
October 11+12*

The EcoVoice Project
Cry of the Earth
October 12

Apollo Chorus at the Ear Taxi Festival
An African American Requiem
October 18

Chicago Chamber Choir
Sacred Place
October 18+19

St. Charles Singers
Time to Explore
October 18+19

Newberry Consort & Haymarket Opera Company
Peri’s Euridice
October 24+25

Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble at the Ear Taxi Festival
Time Stands Still
October 24

Chicago Master Singers
Gracious Light
October 25+26

Cappella Pratensis
The Golden Mass
October 26

Northwestern University Chorale at the Ear Taxi Festival
The Arithmetic of Pain
November 1

Chicago Symphony Chorus
Mozart’s Requiem
November 20–23

Chicago Chorale
Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil
November 22+23

Uniting Voices Chicago
Winter Glow
December 6

Stare at the Sun perform a movement from Alex Berko’s Sacred Place.

Playlist

Don MacDonald: When the Earth Stands Still
La Caccina

Robert Maggio: Interlude II, “Refrains & Misconceptions” from Man Up / Man Down
Constellation Men’s Ensemble

Michael Gordon: “Acoustic Aphasia” from Lost Objects
Claudia Barainsky, soprano
Andrew Watts, countertenor
Daniel Taylor, countertenor
Bang on a Can
RIAS Kammerchor; Concerto Köln/Roger Epple

Alex Berko: Closing Prayer from Sacred Place
Haitham Haidar, tenor
Conspirare/Craig Hella Johnson

Ēriks Ešenvalds: Stars
St. Charles Singers/Jeffrey Hunt

Traditional Mexican: La Llorona
Chicago a cappella/Benjamin Rivera

Dan Forrest: The Sun Never Says
Herine Coetzee Koschak, cello
Consonance/Michael D. Costello

Henry Purcell: “Come away, fellow sailors” from Dido & Aeneas
Jacob Perry, tenor
Apollo’s Fire/Jeannette Sorrell

Jacopo Peri: “Al canto, al ballo, all’ombra, al prato adorno” from Euridice
Monica Benvenuti, soprano
Gloria Banditelli, mezzo-soprano
Mario Cecchetti, tenor
Ensemble Arpeggio/Roberto De Caro

Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano
RIAS Kammerchor
Freiburger Barockorchester/René Jacobs

Sergei Rachmaninoff: “Bogoroditse Devo” from All-Night Vigil (Vespers), Op. 37
Chicago Chorale/Bruce Tammen

Guillaume Dufay: Communio, “Vos qui secuti estis me” from Missa sancti iacobi 
Cappella Pratensis

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Offertorium, “Domine Jesu Christe” from Requiem, K. 626
Ying Fang, soprano
Beth Taylor, mezzo-soprano
Laurence Kilsby, tenor
Alex Rosen, bass
Pygmalion/Raphaël Pichon