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Voices of Spring festival kicks off April 22 with Heartland Voices

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra, together with Chamber Music on the Fox, Elgin Master Chorale, Soirée Lyrique and Heartland Voices, will present "Voices of Spring," a collaboration celebrating the vocal arts, April 22-May 7.

Each organization will offer a concert featuring choral or vocal works, ranging from musical theater to the Brahms "Requiem."

Heartland Voices

The Voices of Spring celebration kicks off with the Heartland Voices at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at Elgin's First United Methodist Church, 216 E. Highland Ave., Elgin with the program, "The Essential Elements." Tickets are $15-$18.

Heartland Voices features professional and professionally trained singers from the greater Northern Illinois area who are committed to excellence in choral music performance. Visit heartlandvoices.com for details.

Soiree Lyrique

At 3 p.m. Sunday, April 23, at the First United Methodist Church, Soirée Lyrique will present "Light Opera," featuring famous excerpts from opera, operetta, Viennese waltzes and musical theater.

Performers will include soprano Genevieve Thiers, soprano Solange Sior, founder and artistic director of Soirée Lyrique; mezzo-soprano Jennifer Kosharsky; baritone Nicholas Provenzale; bass-baritone Keanon Kyles; and 17-year-old violist prodigy Sofiya Kyrylyuk. A string quartet from Chamber Music on the Fox will join in this performance as well as Soirée Lyrique's pianist Chiayi Lee. Familiar excerpts from famous opera, operetta, Viennese waltzes and musical theater will be presented. Free city deck parking across Highland Avenue. Suggested donations are $15-$30 per person/event. Visit soireelyrique.org, contact ssior@soireelyrique.org or (224) 595-1526.

Chamber Music on the Fox

At 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 24, at the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., eighth floor, Chamber Music on the Fox presents "The Transcendent Voice" with works by Schubert, Mahler and Cooke. Tickets are $20 or $10 for students.

Internationally recognized mezzo-soprano Susan Platts, Lyric Opera Orchestra french hornist Neil Kimel, and Ryan Opera Center pianist Alan Darling make up the brilliant trio that brings finely crafted artistry to songs about love, death, and transcendence. Performing the music of Schubert, Mahler, and Cooke, prepare to be dazzled throughout this virtuosic opera program. For tickets, see chambermusiconthefox.org.

One of Elgin's newest arts organizations, Chamber Music on the Fox is a world-class classical chamber music series serving Elgin and the greater Fox Valley region, whose mission is to present engaging, enriching, and immersive performances and cultural experiences that enhance and enrich the cultural offerings of the area.

Elgin Master Chorale

"Brahms: A German Requiem" will be performed by the Elgin Master Chorale, celebrating its 70th season, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 30, at Elgin Community College, Blizzard Theatre, 1700 Spartan Drive, featuring members of the ESO. Tickets are $24 for adults; $19 for students and seniors.

Brahms' Requiem is the masterwork that brought the group together in 1947 as a "choral union" of many area church choirs.

Under the direction of Maestro Andrew Lewis, EMC comprises nearly 100 volunteer singers from across the Fox Valley. Incorporated as a nonprofit in 1966, the Elgin Choral Union changed its name to Elgin Master Chorale in 2014. In residence at Elgin Community College, it presents several concerts per year at the Blizzard Theatre at the college, as well as the Hemmens Cultural Arts Center and other locations in the Chicago area. For tickets, go to elginmasterchorale.org.

Elgin Symphony Orchestra

On May 6-7 at the Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra will perform Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer featuring baritone Takaoki Onishi, and Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music" with the Elgin Master Chorale.

On Saturday, from 6:30 to 7:20 p.m., the Nothing But Treble women's chorus, directed by Rosalind Zager, will perform in the Hemmens lobby before the ESO concert. Nothing But Treble, under the direction of Rosalind Zager. The evening's repertoire will include everything from an African-American spiritual arranged by Rollo Dillworth, to works for women's voices by Smetana to Syzymko's "Peace of Wild Things" to Broadway hits. Zager is a former Elgin High School choral director and teaches voice in the Fox Valley area.

The ESO concert will include Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's towering "Pictures at an Exhibition" which is based on drawings and watercolors by Viktor Hartmann.

"Rachmaninoff himself stated after attending the premiere of Serenade to Music that it was 'the most beautiful piece of music he'd ever heard,'" said Andrew Grams, ESO music director. "'Pictures at an Exhibition' has a wonderful melody for the saxophone that captures the painting by Hartmann of a troubadour singing a song before an old castle. The grandeur of The Great Gate of Kiev caps off another great season of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra."

ESO concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 6 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 7. For tickets, $30-$65, visit ElginSymphony.org.

Sofiya Kyrylyuk
Takaoki Onishi
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