Inaugural Season

CELEBRATING A SPECTACULAR INAUGURAL SEASON
Washington Post Calls Sold-Out Opener a “Triumphant Debut”

THE CITY CHOIR OF WASHINGTON celebrated its inaugural season in 2007-2008 with GRAMMY Award-winning conductor, Robert Shafer, Artistic Director. The Choir’s debut performance of Handel’s Solomon, before a sold-out audience at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center in Alexandria, Virginia, included soloists Darryl Taylor, Amanda Gosier, Angeli Ferrette, and Ole Hass. Washington Post music critic Stephen Brookes described it as “a triumphant debut” in which “….Shafer drew a virtuosic performance from the ensemble—detailed and powerful, with superb balance and control over his forces.”

The Choir performed again at Schlesinger Hall for its sold-out performance of a Baroque Christmas. On April 17, 2008, the Music Center at Strathmore presented The City Choir of Washington in the Marian Vespers of 1610 by Claudio Monteverdi. For this performance the City Choir was joined by the Shenandoah Conservatory Choir of Shenandoah University, the Blue Ridge Choristers (Winchester, Va.), and the Children’s Chorus of Washington. Soloists included Laura Lewis, Danielle Talamantes, Robert Petillo, Robert Baker, Michael Forest, James Shaffran, and Gary Poster. The Washington Post described it as “a memorable, virtuosic performance…Shafer made the unbelievable believable.”

On May 20, 2008, the Choir performed the U.S. premiere of Howard Shore’s soundtrack to The Fellowship of the Ring at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, with the World Children’s Choir and the Wolf Trap Orchestra, Ludwig Wicki conducting. Read what it was like from a singer’s point of view.

On July 6, 2008, The City Choir of Washington was the guest chorus in the National Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide with the Wolf Trap Opera Company, Stephen Lord conducting.