DuPage Chorale presents ‘A Festival of Music with Brass and Organ’ Dec. 8

DuPage Chorale welcomes guest organist Stephen Uhl to the stage with a varied program of music for choir with organ and brass on Sunday, Dec. 8.

The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. in Belushi Performance Hall in the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd. in Glen Ellyn. Tickets are $17, $15 for seniors, or $7 for students.

The program will include Daniel Pinkham’s “Christmas Cantata,” Gweneth Walker’s “Every Life Shall Be a Song,” Nathan Zullinger’s “Look to This Day,” and selections by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Trevor Weston and Henry Purcell. The performance is directed by Patrick O’Shea.

Chicago native Uhl completed his artist diploma in piano performance at Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where he studied with Adam Neiman. Prior to this, he received his Master of Music degree from the Chicago College of the Performing Arts, studying under Kuang-Hao Huang. His playing has received critical acclaim from The Reporter as well as John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune. In the spring of 2017, he formed the Ostrega Uhl Project with violinist Brian Ostrega. The duo performs a wide range of repertoire, provides a platform for other young musicians and strives to both educate and entertain their audiences. In February of 2020, the duo released their first album, “50/50.” They are anticipating their second commercial release.

O’Shea holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral music from Arizona State University, a master’s degree in choral music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance, summa cum laude, from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. His composition teachers included the late Russell Woollen, Thomas Fredrickson, and Randall Shinn. He has frequently served as a clinician and adjudicator and has been commissioned to compose works for choral and chamber music ensembles.