Coro Allegro
Encyclopedia
Coro Allegro is a classical music choral group based in Boston
, Massachusetts, drawing its members from the LGBT community. It was founded in 1990.
The chorus regularly collaborates with other musical ensembles. Among its most notable collaborations have been performances of Mendelssohn’s
Elijah
in 1999 with the Boston Cecilia
and the Handel and Haydn Society
under the direction of Christopher Hogwood
; of Robert Kapilow’s
baseball cantata, a setting of Casey at the Bat
for chorus, in 2001 with Musica Viva in collaboration choreographer Daniel Pelzig; of Brahms’
German Requiem in 2003 with Boston Cecilia under the baton of Donald Teeters; and of both Poulenc's
Gloria
and Bernstein's
Chichester Psalms
in 2004 with Boston Cecilia.
Coro Allegro participates in the quadrennial GALA Choruses
Festival. It has also traveled to participate in the following music festivals:
Among the world premieres Coro Allegro has presented are:
The Artistic Director is David Hodgkins. That post has been held in the past by Thomas Kim and Jane Ring Frank
.
. The award is granted to those who make significant contributions in both the LGBT
and classical music
communities. Award recipients are:
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts, drawing its members from the LGBT community. It was founded in 1990.
Profile and performances
Coro Allegro was founded specifically to be a chorus of both gay men and lesbians, and it remains the only organization of that sort in Boston. It also tries to appeal to a wider audience than that normally devoted to classical music. In its first twenty years, its numbers grew from just twenty singers to more than sixty.The chorus regularly collaborates with other musical ensembles. Among its most notable collaborations have been performances of Mendelssohn’s
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
Elijah
Elijah (oratorio)
Elijah, in German: Elias, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1846 for the Birmingham Festival. It depicts various events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings in the Old Testament....
in 1999 with the Boston Cecilia
Boston Cecilia
The Boston Cecilia is a choral society in Boston, Massachusetts, which is in its 132nd season. Founded in 1876, the ensemble has enjoyed historic relationships with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and famous conductors and composers, such as Arthur Fiedler, Igor Stravinsky, and Antonín Dvořák...
and the Handel and Haydn Society
Handel and Haydn Society
The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1815, it remains one of the oldest performing arts organizations in the United States.-Early history:...
under the direction of Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE, MA , HonMusD , born 10 September 1941, Nottingham, is an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer and musicologist, well known as the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music.-Biography:...
; of Robert Kapilow’s
Robert Kapilow
Robert Kapilow is an American composer, conductor, and music commentator. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale University, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and a student of Nadia Boulanger...
baseball cantata, a setting of Casey at the Bat
Casey at the Bat
"Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888" is a baseball poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. First published in The San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888, it was later popularized by DeWolf Hopper in many vaudeville performances.The poem was originally published...
for chorus, in 2001 with Musica Viva in collaboration choreographer Daniel Pelzig; of Brahms’
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
German Requiem in 2003 with Boston Cecilia under the baton of Donald Teeters; and of both Poulenc's
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
Gloria
Gloria (Poulenc)
The Gloria by Francis Poulenc , scored for soprano solo, large orchestra, and chorus, is a setting of the Roman Catholic Gloria in excelsis Deo text. One of Poulenc's most celebrated works, the Gloria was commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation in honor of Sergei Koussevitzky and his wife...
and Bernstein's
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
Chichester Psalms
Chichester Psalms
Chichester Psalms is a choral work by Leonard Bernstein for boy treble or countertenor, solo quartet, choir and orchestra...
in 2004 with Boston Cecilia.
Coro Allegro participates in the quadrennial GALA Choruses
GALA Choruses
The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses is an international association of LGBT choruses founded in 1982. Its goal is to foster artistic and organizational development within its member choruses. The association includes almost 10,000 vocalists in over 100 associated choruses singing as...
Festival. It has also traveled to participate in the following music festivals:
- Tampa, FloridaTampa, FloridaTampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
, 1996 - San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, 2000 - Place des ArtsPlace des Artsright|frame|View of the Place des Arts esplanade. The Musée d'art contemporain is on the left; behind it is the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with the Théâtre Maisonneuve on the rightPlace des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada....
, Montreal, Quebec, 2004 - Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing ArtsAdrienne Arsht Center for the Performing ArtsAdrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, commonly called The Arsht Center, is Florida's largest performing arts center and is located on Biscayne Boulevard in the Omni neighborhood of Downtown, Miami, Florida, United States...
, Miami, FloridaMiami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, 2008
Among the world premieres Coro Allegro has presented are:
- Ruth Lomon'sRuth LomonA native of Montreal, Canada, Ruth Lomon attended le Conservatoire de Quebec and McGill University. She continued her studies with Francis Judd Cooke at the New England Conservatory of Music and later with Witold Lutosławski at Dartington College in England.Since 1998, Ms...
Requiem for soprano and chorus accompanied by brass and woodwinds, 1997 - Charles Fussell’s Infinite Fraternity, May 16, 2003 at Sanders Theatre
- Patricia Van Ness's Requiem for baritone, chorus, two violins, viola, cello, bass and oboe, October 31, 2004
- Robert Stern’s “Shofar,” November 5, 2006 at Sanders Theatre
The Artistic Director is David Hodgkins. That post has been held in the past by Thomas Kim and Jane Ring Frank
Jane Ring Frank
Jane Ring Frank is a female American Choral Conductor who leads music publisher E. G. Schirmer's Philovox Recording Chorus along with Boston Secession the professional chorus she founded.-Personal life:...
.
Pinkham Award
Since 2008, Coro Allegro has chosen the recipient of the Pinkham Award, given annually in memory of the gay composer Daniel PinkhamDaniel Pinkham
Daniel Rogers Pinkham, Jr. was an American composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Pinkham was one of America's most active composers during his lifetime...
. The award is granted to those who make significant contributions in both the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
and classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
communities. Award recipients are:
- Sanford SylvanSanford SylvanSanford Sylvan is an American baritone, born in New York City in 1953. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 1994 as Leporello in Don Giovanni by Mozart....
, 2008 - Bishop Gene RobinsonGene RobinsonVicki Gene Robinson is the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Robinson was elected bishop in 2003 and entered office in March 2004...
, 2009
External links
- Official website
- Official blog
- Official YouTube channel
- Bay Windows: Boston’s Coro Allegro launches new season on high note, Nov. 18 2003, accessed Dec. 15, 2009