programs reflecting a broad spectrum of choral music, each presented

in collaboration with regionally acclaimed artists and organizations.

The season opens in November with Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning

composer Dominick Argento’s cantata, Jonah and the Whale, presented

with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project at the FirstWorksProv

Festival. December reprises last season’s sold-out Messiah with the

Rhode Island Philharmonic, at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. In March,

the Singers presents an “Anniversaries” program with the Junior

Providence Singers, featuring masterworks by celebrated composers and

poets with anniversaries in 2009. The Singers completes its season in

June with the vibrant music of internationally acclaimed 30-year-old

British composer Tarik O’Regan, presented with the Aurea Ensemble and

featuring a guest appearance by the Rhode Island Children’s Chorus.

“This is a season of exceptional variety and interest, from the

Baroque to commissioned music that is being composed for our June

concert,” said Andrew Clark, the Singers artistic director. “We will

also be collaborating with more performing groups than we have in any

of our past seasons, including two concerts with the Rhode Island

Philharmonic Orchestra.”

November 7 and 9: Jonah and the Whale

with Boston Modern Orchestra Project; a featured performance at

FirstWorksProv Festival

The Providence Singers’ season opens with the New England premiere of

Dominick Argento’s Jonah and the Whale (1973), presented with the

Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) at the FirstWorksProv

Festival. Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning composer Argento combines 14th-

century English poetry, sea chanteys and work songs – resulting in an

engaging, dramatic cantata for chorus, chamber ensemble, narrator and

soloists. (Audiences are encouraged to listen for the whale’s melody,

performed by three trombones in Argento’s innovative score.) The

Singers complements this whale’s tale with water-themed American folk

songs and spirituals, in a program fitting for Rhode Island’s

heritage as the Ocean State. The Friday evening concert and family-

friendly Sunday matinee take place in Providence.

Founded in 1996 by artistic director Gil Rose, the Boston Modern

Orchestra Project (BMOP) is one of a handful of professional

orchestras in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing

and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

FirstWorks is a Providence-based arts presenting organization,

acclaimed for its world-class festivals of diverse and distinguished

performing arts, and for its year-round youth arts programs.

Jonah recording project

Following the live performances, the Providence Singers travels to

Worcester’s Mechanics Hall to produce a studio recording of Jonah, re-

introducing it to a broader audience of choral music enthusiasts

throughout the US. The Singers’ recording of Jonah will become the

only publicly available CD of the work – as well as the second CD in

the chorus’ new “American Treasures” recording series, featuring

rediscovered choral masterworks by celebrated American composers.

(The Singers’ first CD, of Lukas Foss’ The Prairie, will be released

this fall.)

December 20, 2008: Handel’s Messiah

with the Rhode Island Philharmonic

Andrew Clark leads the Providence Singers and the Rhode Island

Philharmonic in Handel’s majestic favorite, presented for the second

consecutive December at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Listeners

returning from last season’s sold-out Messiah will enjoy the subtle

twists that Clark has in store this year, culminating as ever in a

grand “Hallelujah” to highlight the holidays.

March 28-29, 2009: Anniversaries

with the Junior Providence Singers

This spring marks several noteworthy anniversaries of composers,

poets and presidents – including the 200th birthdays of Abraham

Lincoln, Felix Mendelssohn, Edgar Allan Poe, and the 250th

anniversary of Handel’s death. It’s also the fifth anniversary of the

Junior Providence Singers, a chamber chorus of the region’s talented

high school singers. To celebrate, the adult and junior choruses join

forces to highlight these and other anniversaries, performing works

by “anniversary” composers Handel (Zadok the Priest), Haydn (Te

Deum), and Mendelssohn (Ave Maria and Verleih Uns Frieden), plus

choral settings of texts by Poe, Tennyson and Holmes. Lincoln-themed

works include Charles Ives’ Lincoln the Great Commoner and Elie

Siegmeister’s Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight. “Anniversaries”

takes place in Providence and Bristol.

The Junior Providence Singers (JPS) is a high school honors chorus

founded by the Providence Singers and the Rhode Island Philharmonic

Music School in 2004. JPS is led by music director Michele Holt, who

is also director of choral activities and coordinator of the music

education at Providence College.

June 6-7: Ecstasies Above: Music of Tarik O’Regan

with the Aurea Ensemble and the Rhode Island Children’s Chorus

The Providence Singers teams up with the Aurea Ensemble to present

choral and instrumental works by award-winning 30-year-old British

composer Tarik O’Regan. Hailed by the London Observer as “one of the

most original and eloquent young composers,” O’Regan blends classical

and early-music influences with fresh musical insights. The program

includes Stolen Voices, commissioned for the United Nations

International Day of Peace 2007, featuring a special guest appearance

by the Rhode Island Children’s Chorus; The Ecstasies Above, based on

a poem by Edgar Allan Poe; and a world premiere, commissioned by the

Providence Singers. This concert takes place in Providence and Bristol.

The Aurea Ensemble, founded by actor Nigel Gore, violinist Charles

Sherba, violist Consuelo Sherba, and harmonica virtuoso Chris Turner,

integrates music and the spoken word in its dynamic, accessible, and

engaging performances. The Rhode Island Children’s Chorus, led by

artistic director Christine Noel, is an award-winning ensemble of

young singers from throughout Rhode Island and southern New England.

Season Tickets

For season tickets and details, contact the Providence Singers at

appearance with the Rhode Island Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Choral

Fantasy, conducted by Francisco Noya. Tickets for this concert are

available through the Philharmonic box office at 401-248-7000, or

masterworks and contemporary works, creative collaborations, new

music commissions, and education programs.

Established in 1971, the Providence Singers is a leading choral

performance and education organization serving southern New England.

Led by artistic director Andrew Clark, the 100-voice auditioned

chorus presents an annual concert series of and makes frequent guest

appearances throughout the region, including annual concerts with the

Rhode Island Philharmonic. The chorus has also performed recently

with the Kronos Quartet at the FirstWorks Providence Festival, and

with Dave Brubeck at Lincoln Center and the Newport Jazz Festival.

In March 2007, the organization hosted one of seven American

Masterpieces Choral Festivals sponsored that year by the National

Endowment for the Arts. Additional NEA support has enabled the

Singers to record Lukas Foss’ landmark cantata, The Prairie, for

public release in the fall of 2008.

The Providence Singers advances the choral tradition through the

commission and performance of new works, with support of its Wachner

Fund for New Music, established to commemorate former artistic

director Julian Wachner’s decade of service. In partnership with the

Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School, the Providence Singers

sponsors the Junior Providence Singers, a high school honors chorus

now celebrating its fifth anniversary.