Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra Will Perform Brahms' GERMAN REQUIEM at Cary Hall

Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, in collaboration with Masterworks Chorale, and the Concord Chorus, will present Johannes Brahms's transcendent Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiiem) on Sunday, May 17 at Lexington's Cary Hall. 

Conductor Kevin Leong will lead Pro Arte and 150 singers including soloists soprano Carley DeFranco and baritone Dana Whiteside, the Concord Chorus and the Masterworks Chorale, in a program that includes the world premiere of Jonathan Bailey Holland's The Nature of Lost Time, a work celebrating the 80th anniversary of The Concord Chorus.  

Kevin Leong is the Music Director of three choruses in the Boston area — the Concord Chorus (since 2012), the Masterworks Chorale (2017), and the Jameson Singers. He previously served as Associate Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Choruses at Harvard University, where he directed the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus and co-conducted the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. He has also served as Conductor of the Harvard Glee Club Alumni Chorus and Resident Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. His ensembles have performed in many venues around the country and abroad.  He serves on the Board of Directors of Early Music America and as a Trustee of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra.

A passionate communicator and dynamic presence onstage, soprano Carley DeFranco has been praised for her meaningful and embodied performances. Recent projects include the roles of Anna/Dido in the East Coast premiere of Errolyn Wallen's Dido's Ghost with Emmanuel Music, a fully staged production of Benjamin Britten's Les Illuminations with Urbanity Dance, and the premiere of Christopher Tin's Lost Birds with VOCES8. A former Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow with Emmanuel Music, Carley has been a soloist and chorister in most of their recent concert and staged productions. She has been a guest soloist with many organizations, including the Spectrum Singers, Music Worcester, Lexington Symphony, Back Bay Chorale, and Boston Cecilia.

Baritone Dana Whiteside has appeared as soloist in numerous oratorio and orchestral works including the Boston premiere of Kurt Weill's The Prophets from The Eternal Road, and in the Bach Saint John Passion and Mass in B Minor, as well as the Boston premiere of John Harbison's Supper at Emaus with the Cantata Singers. In addition, he has appeared as soloist in Bach's Christ lag in Todesbanden, and Handel's Alexander's  Feast, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Mass in C, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Benjamin Britten's Cantata Misericordium, Stravinsky's Pulcinella, and Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Cantata 82.

The music of composer Jonathan Bailey Holland, currently the dean of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, has been performed and commissioned by numerous organizations, both nationally and internationally, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, BBC, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, and New World symphony orchestras; as well as the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic, among many others.

Since 1940, Masterworks Chorale has continued to excite, engage, and inspire the greater Boston community with its musical performances. Originally named the Lexington Choral Society, the name was changed to Masterworks Chorale in 1969 to better reflect the geographic diversity of the membership and its contribution to the cultural life of the greater Boston area. “Masterworks” also better defines the ensemble's core repertoire: choral and orchestral music by master composers.

The Concord Chorus, a nonprofit organization founded in 1945, occupies an honored place in the musical life of Concord, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. The 110-voice Concord Chorus' repertoire encompasses choral-orchestral and smaller works from the 16th century to the present.

Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra is a professional, musician-led cooperative chamber orchestra that shares its passion for music through exceptional performances that enrich, engage, and educate. The ensemble performs familiar and adventurous music in concert halls and welcoming community settings. Founded in 1978 by Harvard chaplain and visionary Larry Hill, Pro Arte is one of only four cooperative orchestras in the country. Unlike traditional orchestras, Pro Arte's musicians and the conductor collectively decide what music the orchestra performs, and which guest artists are invited.