Phoenix Chorale Returns To Scottsdale Center For The Performing Arts With TRANSCENDENCE

Phoenix Chorale will return to Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts with TRANSCENDENCE, a choral and orchestral concert bringing together choir and large orchestra in a program of contemporary classical music. The performances will take place Saturday, January 24, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, January 25, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. in Scottsdale.

The concert will feature music by Arvo Pärt, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Ola Gjeilo, alongside the U.S. premiere of British composer Rebecca Dale’s symphonic choral work When Music Sounds. The program will include 99 musicians, with a full orchestra of approximately 40 to 60 instrumentalists and an expanded chorus augmented by student singers from Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona, and Canto Vivo Chorale of Mesa Community College.

The first half of the program will focus on Nordic composers from Estonia, Iceland, and Norway, pairing string orchestra, percussion, and choir in works that explore landscape, reflection, and renewal. The second half will be anchored by Dale’s When Music Sounds, a large-scale choral symphony structured in six movements.

“TRANSCENDENCE brings together music that is deeply evocative, whether of place, emotion, or inner reflection,” said Christopher Gabbitas, Artistic Director of Phoenix Chorale. “From the meditative intensity of Arvo Pärt to the sweeping emotional landscapes of Rebecca Dale, this program invites the listener into powerful sound worlds that are at once intimate and monumental. Music has the capacity to move us in countless ways, and this concert is a celebration of that shared human experience.”

The program will open with Pärt’s Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, performed by orchestra alone, and transition into Thorvaldsdottir’s Ad genua, followed by Gjeilo’s The Road, a work inspired by the Norwegian landscape. Gjeilo previously served as Phoenix Chorale’s Composer in Residence during the 2011–2012 season, and the ensemble’s recording Northern Lights: Choral Works by Ola Gjeilo remains the most streamed album in its catalog.

Select portions of the performance will include projected text and visual elements designed to complement the music. The concert will conclude with Dale’s When Music Sounds, described as symphonic in scope, with each movement unfolding as a distinct musical scene.

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