DuPage Foundation Grant Helps Downers Grove Choral Society Connect to Conductor
“There has to be a connection between the singers and the conductor, accepting each others' strengths and weaknesses,” Hahn said. “Every conductor has his or her own approach and they need to know how to prepare singers to peak on performance day.”
A mini-grant from the DuPage Foundation funded two guest conductor concerts which enabled the DGCS to experience the conductors in action—in a sense auditioning them—while at the same time providing excellent choral music for the members to sing and exciting performances for audiences to enjoy.
The DGCS found itself without a conductor when its former one had to leave for medical reasons. The grant from the DuPage Foundation partially supported the group's 2013-2014 special guest conductor season. It allowed members and audiences, both primarily from DuPage County, the opportunity to experience the work of three extremely well-qualified candidates for the open DGCS artistic director position. It also allowed the candidates to conduct works equal in nature and orchestra size and ultimately resulted in the hiring of one of the guest conductors, John Patrick Rakes, as the group's artistic director.
“We hire professional musicians to play for us when we perform and they are costly,” said Hahn, who has been a member of the DGCS for about three years. She and approximately one-third of the 45-member group are members who returned to singing when time would allow the commitment. The other two-thirds of the membership are men and women who have had a life-long affiliation with music.
“DGCS is a volunteer group of about 45 members currently and its new artistic director has a strong vision, which is good for the group,” says Hahn. “We are volunteers with all different levels of ability. To be able to make music that is really special, takes an artistic director with a certain talent. With the grant from the DuPage Foundation, the DGCS was able to find that talent and we are extremely grateful.”
DGCS performs in various venues throughout the county and does not compete. They are always looking for new members who enjoy singing. Some of the past concert venues have included the McAnich Arts Center, Wentz Hall, the Tivoli theatre, various churches and a number of high school auditoriums. For more information about upcoming performances or membership, visit www.dgcs.org.
About the Downers Grove Choral Society
The Downers Grove Choral Society seeks to achieve excellence in choral music, providing its audiences with exciting performances of great choral works. DGCS was founded in 1959 as a “Messiah” chorus but now includes music from all periods and genres. The chorus has a reputation for excellence and a loyal following in the community and performs exclusively in the western suburbs of Chicago, primarily in DuPage County. For more information, please visit www.dgcs.org.
About the DuPage Foundation
The DuPage Foundation seeks to raise the quality of life throughout DuPage County by fostering philanthropy, connecting donors to area needs and building community partnerships. Based on the American virtues of volunteerism and philanthropy, the Foundation fosters a legacy of support for the people of DuPage County by making grants to not-for-profit organizations working in the areas of arts and culture, education, environment, health, and human services. Since its inception, the Foundation has built its endowment to more than $61 million and awarded more than $21 million in grants to not-for-profit agencies serving the residents of DuPage County and beyond.
Established in 1986, the DuPage Foundation is a publicly-supported 501(c)(3) organization to which contributions are tax deductible. It was created to benefit the people of DuPage County and receives contributions and bequests into a permanent endowment from individuals, corporations, organizations and foundations wishing to make lasting contributions to the people of DuPage. The earnings on these funds are then used, in accordance with donor wishes, for the Foundation's grantmaking and community leadership activities.
For more information about the Foundation, or to arrange future media opportunities, please contact Joelyn Kott, marketing & communications officer, at (630) 665-5556, extension 19, or joelyn@dupagefoundation.org.