THE CHORAL PROJECT to Open 30th Season with AUTUMNSONGS: GLOW

The Choral Project will open its 30th anniversary season with AutumnSongs: GLOW on Sunday, October 25th, at Santa Clara University Recital Hall in Santa Clara, California.

The repertoire includes several selections familiar to Broadway audiences, including 'Anthem' from Chess, 'God Help the Outcasts' from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and 'Our Time' from Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.

The concert will also bring back 'Kéramos,' an a cappella work written for The Choral Project a decade ago by Wicked and Godspell composer Stephen Schwartz. Based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem of the same name, the piece grew out of conversations between Schwartz and The Choral Project Artistic Director Daniel Hughes about finding a text that explored humanity and interconnectedness. Hughes suggested Longfellow's poem, and its opening image of a turning potter's wheel became the musical foundation for Schwartz's composition.

Schwartz described the creative process in a 2020 episode of The Choral Project's No Baton Needed podcast, explaining that the poem's imagery immediately suggested a sense of circular motion. He built the a cappella work around a repeated 'Kéramos' chant that continually turns beneath Longfellow's text. AutumnSongs: GLOW will mark The Choral Project's first performance of the piece since its premiere.

The program also includes 'The Ballad of the Witches' Road' from Marvel's Agatha All Along, along with works by Morten Lauridsen, Claudio Monteverdi, Daniel Hughes, and contemporary a cappella ensemble The Real Group.