New Season-New Music…WOW!

As I write, the clock is slowing counting down the final moments of the 77th concert season for the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. Unlike the regular calendars that you and I use every day, the ISC calendar calls August 1 “New Years Day,” allowing the concert season and fiscal year to be in sync. The last couple days, I've been gratefully relishing the memories of the concert season now ending, as I'm also eagerly anticipating the joys and excitement of the year ahead.

A glance in the choral rear-view mirror reveals a lot for us to cherish…magnificent performances of the Verdi Requiem, our sold out presentations of Festival of Carols, a wonderful gala, and a thrilling Britten War Requiem just to name a few. These are achievements of the highest order, made possible thanks to the support of folks just like you.

Our upcoming 78th season holds much in store for us as well. Favorite, timeless works such as Messiah, Mozart and Faure Requiems, the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, and of course Festival of Carols. As if all that weren't enough, we are proud to present the world premiere of a brand new major work in April. The ISC has been proud of its commitment to new choral music for many years. The annual Commission Competition at each year's Festival of Carols has brought thrilling new works to light by emerging composers, most of which have already been published by leading music companies. However, this year, we are upping the ante significantly by engaging an already widely renowned composer, Mohammed Fairouz, to write a concert-length work for chorus and orchestra, which we will present in April (alongside the venerable Faure Requiem). Scored for full chorus, orchestra, tenor and baritone soloist and children's choir, Mohammed's work will be a setting of texts drawn from the Psalms. It's title, Zabur, in fact is the Arabic word for Psalms. We are proud of the interfaith themes that Mohammed will explore in this work, a direct reflection of the parameters described by our consortium of choral conductors that originally considered the goals of this project. More about that in a future blog post.

So, “Happy New Year,” and here's to the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir!

-Eric