Chicago a Cappella Will Perform JAZZ A CAPPELLA

Chicago a cappella will continue its 2024/25 Season this March with Jazz a cappella, a new dimension of jazz told through the voice, blending iconic vocal standards like My Funny Valentine with adaptations of instrumental masterpieces by Gillespie, Ellington, and Coltrane. Reimagined classics like Birdland and Satin Doll are joined by a new work from HerVoice competition winner Devon Gates, honoring jazz's artistry and timeless legacy. This four-concert tour begins on March 29 and travels around Chicagoland with stops in Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, and Naperville. 

With the program by Chicago a cappella's Artistic Director John William Trotter and Guest Music Director Paul Langford, the concert includes selections that were written originally as vocal songs (My Funny Valentine; Embraceable You) and jazz pieces that were originally written as instrumental works with lyrics added later (Sing, Sing, Sing; Birdland). Additional premieres of brand-new arrangements include: A Night in Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie), Giant Steps (John Coltrane) and Every Day (I Have the Blues), based on the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross arrangement and reimagined as an a cappella rendition.

Jazz a cappella includes a new work by jazz musician and composer Devon Gates, one of the winners of CAC's 2023 HerVoice Emerging Women Composers Competition, a program launched by CAC in 2021 to provide training and mentorship to the next generation of women choral composers. The HerVoice competition is now in its 5th year and is currently accepting new submissions through March 15. Devon's piece will be the sixth premiere CAC has workshopped and performed through the program. Gates will attend the Evanston and Naperville performances on April 5th and 6th with post-concert Q&As. 

Trotter shared, “Many of these songs are, quite simply, great works of art that leave us with a richer sense of what it means to be human, to be alive, and to participate in the immense and mysterious gift of music.”

Performers for Jazz a cappella are sopranos Carolyne DalMonte, Rebecca Fitzpatrick, and Kristin Lelm; mezzo-sopranos Thereza Lituma and Chelsea Lyons; tenors Michaël Hudetz and Alan Taylor; basses Matthew Brennan, Joe Labozetta, and Aaron Wardell.

The performance schedule for Jazz a cappella is as follows:

Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 PM at the Gannon Concert Hall at Holtschneider Performance Center, 2330 N Halsted St. in Chicago

Sunday, March 30 at 3:00 PM at Nineteenth Century Club, 178 Forest Ave. in Oak Park

Saturday, April 5 at 7:30 PM at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave. in Evanston

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