Spring 2024 Concert
Wonderful World: Great Music from Six Continents
Sunday, April 21, 4:00 pm
Grace United Methodist Church
300 E. Gartner Road, Naperville
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This new program is formed around the popular song What a Wonderful World, first recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967. With choral music from six different continents sung in five different languages, the concert will include selections from classical, folk, jazz, and gospel genres and spotlight a new composition by one of our own NaperVoice singers, Martynas Matutis. Most of the pieces will also feature the use of world percussion instruments played by Shelley May Hutchison, our Collaborative Percussionist. Members of the Harmony and Soul Ensemble from Mays Music Centre of Excellence will join NaperVoice on two gospel selections.
NaperVoice, a fully auditioned choir composed of professional and volunteer singers from twenty Chicago-area communities, is conducted by Philip Spencer, Founding Conductor/Artistic Director, and accompanied by Collaborative Percussionist Shelley May Hutchison, and Collaborative Pianist/Organist Dr. Zachary Zwahlen.
Proceeds will benefit this concert's local charitable organization, the new Mays Music Centre of Excellence in Naperville, providing musical instruction and performance opportunities to underserved populations throughout the Chicago area.
Fall 2023 Concert
Gather in Gratitude 2: From Bach to the Beatles and Beyond
Sunday, November 19, 4:00 pm
Grace United Methodist Church
300 E. Gartner Road, Naperville
As at our Inaugural Concert last year, the theme of gratitude was once again explored on this weekend prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, with a variety of new musical repertoire for 2023 selected from four different centuries. Three significant anniversaries were also observed through music, including the 50th anniversary in 2023 of the end of the Vietnam Conflict, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of American composer Ned Rorem. Musical genres including classical, world music, and pop were represented in vocal works by Bach, Ešenvalds, Rorem, Walker, Lennon/McCartney, and Spencer. NaperVoice also performed Prayer for Ukraine in Ukrainian, conducted by our College Student Conducting Intern Nazarii Mykhailenko and accompanied by the Chicago Ukrainian Bandura Ensemble. The 35-voice auditioned choir, composed of professional and volunteer singers from twenty Chicago-area communities, was conducted by Philip Spencer, Founding Conductor/Artistic Director; and accompanied by Collaborative Percussionist Shelley May Hutchison, Collaborative Pianist/Organist Dr. Zachary Zwahlen, and High School Student Musician Intern pianist Alex Amato.
Proceeds benefited this concert’s designated local charitable organization, Loaves and Fishes Community Services.
Spring 2023 Concert: Singing Our Superpowers
Sunday, April 23, 4:00 pm
Grace United Methodist Church
300 E. Gartner Road, Naperville
This program explored themes of love, faith, wonder, imagination, and hope through vocal works from five centuries by composers including Purcell, Dowland, Massenet, Stroope, Carly Simon, and Dolly Parton. Missa Brevis: Songs of the Enslaved, by Founding Conductor/Artistic Director Philip Spencer, also had its Naperville premiere. The 35-voice auditioned choir, composed of professional and volunteer singers from twenty Chicago-area communities, was accompanied by Collaborative Percussionist Shelley May Hutchison, Collaborative Pianist Valerie Lorimer, and featured College Student Conducting Intern Jean Garcera and High School Student Instrumental Intern clarinetist Cameron Hejny.
Proceeds benefited the local charitable nonprofit Kids Above All, building better lives for kids through therapeutic programs, housing support, and education.
Inaugural 2022 Concert: Gather in Gratitude
Sunday, November 20, 3:00 pm
Grace United Methodist Church
300 E. Gartner Road, Naperville
This nearly sold-out performance included a variety of choral music selected with the theme of “gratitude”: for home, for love, for the gift of song, for moments in time. The thirty-five auditioned members of NaperVoice sang music from genres including classical, gospel, musical theater, and vocal jazz, by Brahms, Whitacre, Rutter, Runestad, Powell, and other significant composers. A professional percussionist, an award-winning pianist, and a gifted high school violinist accompanied the choir, with kids in the audience invited to learn and play a typical Cuban rhythm on small instruments for one selection. Our talented College/University Student Conductor Intern, Nazarii Mykhailenko, also conducted the choir on one work.
Proceeds benefited this concert’s designated local charitable organization, Feed My Starving Children.