May 2023

Ari Project – Spring 봄 :
Choral Music from Korea

  • Saturday, May 13, 2023, 7:30 PM
    Plymouth Church, 1217 6th Ave, Seattle WA 98101
  • Sunday, May 14, 2023, 3 PM
    National Nordic Museum, 2655 NW Market St, Ballard, WA 98107

Special guests:

  • Morning Star Cultural Center, Sinae Cheh, director
  • Hyo-Won Woo, Composer in Residence and Dr. Mee-Ae Nam, Founder and Director of ARI PROJECT
  • Serena Chin, piano

Choral Arts Northwest & Morning Star Korean Cultural Center Present:

 Ari Project – Spring 봄

World Premiere by Hyo-Won Woo

Created by Korean composer Hyo-won Woo (Seoul, South Korea) and her artistic partner, Dr. Mee-Ae Nam (Eastern Michigan University), Ari Project – Spring 봄offers a world-premiere choral drama celebrating the sights, sounds, and colors of spring. Through music and dance expressing abundance and renewal, Woo’s drama takes us on a journey of historical and contemporary reminiscences, invoking the symbols and spirits of Spring 봄 in South Korea. The dancers and musicians of Morning Star Korean Cultural Center join CANW onstage, creating a kaleidoscope of traditional costumes, songs, folk dance, and storytelling, in Korean and English, accompanied by piano, strings, and traditional Korean instruments.

Join us for Ari Project – Spring 봄, an unforgettable tapestry of sound, color, and movement.

Saturday, May 13, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 14, 3 p.m.

 

This concert is endorsed by the Korean Consulate in Seattle.

March 2023

Considering Matthew Shepard

  • Saturday, March 18, 2023, 7:30 p.m.
  • Pre-concert discussion with Timothy Westerhaus (CANW) and Kaelee Bolme (STANCE) begins at 7 PM – ARRIVE EARLY
    Inglemoor High School, 15500 Simonds Rd NE, Kenmore, WA 98028
  • Sunday, March 19, 2023, 4:00 p.m.
  • Pre-concert discussion with Timothy Westerhaus (CANW) and Miriam Anderson (CANW & Puget SoundWorks) begins at 3:30 PM – ARRIVE EARLY
    Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 4th Ave N, Edmonds, WA 98020

Choral Arts Northwest presents a staged performance of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard in collaboration with Seattle area high schools and LGBTQ+ choirs. Composed in 2016 by Craig Hella Johnson, this dramatic oratorio depicts the story of Matt, a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming who was murdered in a 1998 hate crime. The music takes us on a journey of Matt’s story with music ranging from Bach to musical theatre, from country to soul, inviting us to come together as a community and to expand our care and empathy for one another, no matter our differences.

Guest choirs on March 18th::

  • Sammamish High School Chamber Choir, Ryan Hyde, Director
  • STANCE – Seattle Trans and Nonbinary Choral Ensemble, Kaelee Bolme, Director
  • Woodinville High School Concert Voices, Joseph Mikkelson, Director

Guest choirs on March 19th::

  • Ballard High School Concert Choir, Courtney Rowley, Director
  • Puget Soundworks, Miriam Anderson, Artistic Director

Choral Arts NW has moved to a Pay as Able pricing structure in order to allow ANYONE from any economic status to attend our concerts. Please choose a ticket price based on your ability to pay and your desire to help CANW bring its music to anyone and everyone.  Thank you!

Saturday, March 18, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 19, 4:00 p.m.

Masks and vaccinations are encouraged but not required of audience members.

Choral Arts NW will not be masked unless CDC and King County guidelines change before March 18th. CANW members will test daily and only be permitted to sing if negative and illness free. 100% of choir members are vaccinated through the most recent booster.

 

December 2022

Northwest Solstice:
A Choral Arts Wintertide Concert

  • Saturday, December 17, 2022, 7:30 p.m.
    Plymouth Church, 1217 6th Ave, Seattle WA
  • Sunday, December 18, 2022, 3:00 p.m.
    St. Thomas Church, 8398 NE 12th St, Medina WA

Serena Chin, Piano; Jamie Sanidad, Oboe/English Horn

During the blue nights of winter, Choral Arts Northwest presents music that captures the magic of this season, warming our spirits with music that invokes imagery of night and light, feelings of joy and peace. Music includes a rich variety of cultural traditions, marking solstice, the beginning of the Festival of Lights, and Las Posadas, with music from Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela. This concert features Reena Esmail’s new work, The Winter Breviary, which traces a journey through the solstice and combines new texts by Rebecca Gayle Howell with Hindustani raags for the night and morning light hours. Music by Northwest composers Emily Lau, Andrew Jacobson, and Katerina Gimon capture a spirit of wonder, and interludes for piano and oboe seamlessly weave together this concert experience.

Printed program  – CANW Northwest Solstice program_FINAL

Sunday LIVESTREAM – https://youtu.be/sG69uoil0xc

Masks and vaccinations are encouraged but not required of audience members.

The choir will not be masked unless CDC and King County guidelines change before December 17/18th. Choir members will test daily and only be permitted to sing if negative and illness free. 100% of choir members are vaccinated through the most recent booster.

November 2022

Songs of Freedom: Music from Ukraine

Benefit Concert for Ukrainian Refugee Services at Rescue.org
Featuring Valentyn Lysenko, Ukrainian Bandura

  • Saturday, November 5, 2022, 7:30 p.m.
    Plymouth Church, 1217 6th Ave, Seattle WA

Choral Arts Northwest presents Songs of Freedom featuring music by Ukrainian composers, spanning over 300 years from the Ukrainian Renaissance to folk music of today. Ukrainians have long used song as a means of survival and empowerment, and this program of transcendent and folkloric music connects us with the beauty of Ukrainian land, spirit, and people. The first half of the program (“Songs of Spirit, Songs of Life”) includes sublime motets by Renaissance composer Mykola Dyletsky, a joyful choral concerto by Classical era Dmitry Bortniansky, and living composer Lesia Dychko’s thrilling Slava. In the second half of the program (“Land of Freedom, Land of Beauty”) choral songs meet Ukrainian folk traditions, with music played by Valentyn Lysenko, a Seattle-based performer of the bandura, the quintessential Ukrainian folk instrument. From the iconic Oi u luzi chervona kalyna—Ukraine’s patriotic song made famous from remixes of rock musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk’s Instagram post—to a tongue-twister folk song, the beauty of Ukraine’s land and people come alive through music both transcendent and earthy.

50% of all concert proceeds will be donated to the Washington State chapter of Rescue.org, an international association providing broad support for refugee relief in Washington State and beyond. Once concert costs are met, 100% of any additional funds raised will go toward Rescue.org.

Masks and vaccinations are highly encouraged of audience members.

  • CANW continues to monitor and follow CDC and King County guidelines regarding our protocols and will adjust as necessary and as recommendations change
  • Daily testing is required of all choir members for rehearsals and performances
  • Proof of vaccination is required of all choir members
  • Masks are optional for the choir – we anticipate that most will not mask in performance.

Pay as able – suggested donation $30 door, $25 pre-concert