Music Institute Chorale Performs THE CREATION March 17

The Music Institute of Chicago Chorale, conducted by Daniel Wallenberg, performs Joseph Haydn's The Creation Sunday, March 17 at 3 p.m. at Nichols Concert Hall.

In addition to conducting, Wallenberg has adapted the work for soloists, choir, and chamber ensemble. Soloists include Music Institute faculty member Rae-Myra Hilliard, soprano, along with tenor Nathan Oakes and bass Ivo Suarez. Gregory Shifrin is pianist.

The Music Institute of Chicago Chorale performs The Creation
Sunday, March 17 at 3 p.m. at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $7 for students.
For tickets call 847-905-1500. For information, visit musicinst.org/chorale-creation.
All programming is subject to change.

Music Institute of Chicago Chorale
The Music Institute of Chicago Chorale is a community chorus that provides an opportunity for adult singers with prior experience to study and perform the best in sacred and secular choral music. Now in its 31st year, the Chorale has one continuing goal: to perform the finest sacred and secular choral music with the highest of standards in a community setting. Under the leadership of Conductor Daniel Wallenberg, the Chorale has developed a wide range of repertoire, including motets, madrigals, part-songs, folk songs, and larger choral-orchestral works by Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Duruflé, and many others. Throughout the years, the Chorale has collaborated with local choirs and symphony orchestras and has produced two fully costumed Elizabethan madrigal dinners. In addition, the Chorale has collaborated several times with the Music Institute's voice faculty for concerts of opera and Broadway music.

Chorale conductor Daniel Wallenberg is also on the staff of the Chicago Children's Choir, working with the In-School Chorus and After-School Programs for the Rogers Park and Humboldt Park Neighborhood Choirs, as well as its world-renowned Concert Choir with whom he toured Ukraine and the United States. He is the director of the junior and adult choirs at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation and the founder and artistic director of "Zemer Am," the Chicago Jewish Choral Festival. A native of Bogota, Colombia, Wallenberg founded several adult and children's choirs while living in Israel.

Soloist bios
Rae-Myra Hilliard is an active recitalist and concert artist who diligently researches and promotes works written by composers of color. In October 2015, she released her debut CD, Lifescapes: One Woman's Journey, featuring compositions exclusively by Black-American composers. Her Christmas CD featuring classical and popular works will be available in November 2019. She has performed as soloist in Ralph Vaughn Williams' Serenade to Music, Vivaldi's Gloria, Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio, Bach's Magnificat in D, Handel's Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Mozart's Regina Coeli and Requiem, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Dubois' The Seven Last Words of Christ, David Fanshawe's African Sanctus, and Beethoven's Mass in C. Her operatic credits include Emma Berdis Jones in Rènee Baker's The Baldwin Chronicles and Singing Spirit in Baker's Sunyata: Towards Absolute Emptiness, The Countess in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Serena in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Miss Pinkerton in Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief, and the world premiere of Wendell Logan and Paul Carter Harrison's Doxology with the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble under the direction of the late Maestro Coleridge Taylor-Perkinson. She is a member of the Music Institute of Chicago voice faculty and also teaches at the University of Saint Francis (Joliet) and Evanston Township and Niles West High Schools among others. She is music director at St. James Lutheran Church in Lake Forest.

Nathan Oakes hails from Upstate New York, but has adopted Chicago as his home. When not performing, he works as a full-time mechanic. He studied at Roosevelt University with Tracy Watson and has performed with various ensembles, including Petite Opera in Park Ridge, the American Chamber Opera, and the Floating Opera Co. He currently sings with the CSO Chorus and is the section leader and soloist at St Giles Episcopal Church in Northbrook.

Ivo Suarez earned his bachelor's degree in vocal performance from the University of Iowa and his master's from the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Ivo moved to the United States as a child and began developing his skills through a variety of different instruments as well as voice. As a professional, he has performed in many operatic productions, including Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Colline in La Bohème, Don Alfonso in Cosí fan Tutte, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and most recently as Leporello in Don Giovanni with Petite Opera productions. He resides in Chicago, actively engaging in all facets of performing and constantly seeking to advance himself as an artist.

Music Institute of Chicago
The Music Institute of Chicago is dedicated to transforming lives through music education. Founded in 1931, the Music Institute has grown to become one of the largest and most respected community music schools in the nation. Offering musical excellence built on the strength of its distinguished faculty, commitment to quality, and breadth of programs and services, the Music Institute is a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education and accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Pre-collegiate Arts Schools (ACCPAS). Each year, the Music Institute's teachers reach thousands of students of all ages and levels of experience. Music Institute locations include Chicago, Evanston, Winnetka, Lincolnshire, Lake Forest, and Downers Grove. In addition, the Music Institute is proud of its longstanding partnership with the Chicago Public Schools through its Arts Link program. The Music Institute offers lessons and classes, and concerts through its Community Music School, Academy, and Nichols Concert Hall. For more information, visit musicinst.org. Photos of the Music Institute of Chicago Chorale and Danny Wallenberg courtesy of the Music Institute of Chicago.
Photos of Rae-Myra Hilliard, Nathan Oakes (left) and Ivo Suarez courtesy of the artists.