Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh Performs COMING HOME in March

On March 9 and 10, 2024, the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh (MCP) will present Coming Home, a musical journey exploring the yearning inside all humans to find a place we can call home. Free for the public to attend, this concert will feature a dynamic repertoire curated and conducted by MCP’s new music director, Daniel Singer.

At 116 years in operation, MCP is the city’s most celebrated chorus. The choir’s approximately 140 singers are everyday community members from diverse backgrounds and professions who give generously of their time and talent to create powerful, unexpected, and deeply moving moments of musical discovery.

In his first season with MCP, Singer has been exploring works that would both expand the chorus’ creative boundaries and showcase their talent. Along the way, he noticed a recurring theme: a yearning for a home, whether it be a physical home on earth, a spiritual home in a world beyond our own, or anything in between.

“We all look for places where we can feel like we belong, where we have a sense of belonging, safety and purpose. This season, I also came into a new musical home with the Mendelssohn Choir, and the chorus and I are building a new sense of community together,” says Singer. “All the pieces fell into place for this to be the perfect theme for this moment.

The program features an adventurous range of classical and contemporary choral works that evolve over the course of the concert, both musically and thematically. The works are shorter in length and grouped together in sets that complement each other and engage the audience with new sounds, texts and perspectives.

The concert opens with an expansive work for unaccompanied eight-part chorus by the ensemble’s namesake, Felix Mendelssohn, about New Year’s Day and embracing a new beginning. This segues directly into a setting of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem “God’s World” by Chicago-based composer Stacy Garrop, which features piano and speaks of “being in awe of the mountains and all of nature.” 

“This first set is a perfect example of the variety in the program,” Singer said. “Both pieces contemplate our sense of home on earth, and the audience will hear a classical work followed by a complementary and contrasting contemporary piece that’s more harmonically and rhythmically adventurous."

The repertoire also highlights diverse voices and perspectives, examining the theme of “home” through the unique experiences of people from different backgrounds, at different points in history, all around the world. Audiences will experience a number of pieces by female composers, LGBTQ+ composers, and composers of color, with texts in English, German, Spanish and Estonian, as well as a work by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail using the traditional rhythmic syllables of Hindustani classical music. To conclude the program, the chorus will celebrate its history and musical home by performing former MCP Music Director Robert Page’s arrangement of “Make Our Garden Grow,” from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. 

While the program presents creative challenges for Singer and the chorus, Singer says that he encourages the audience to leave behind their preconceived ideas about contemporary choral music. “This is accessible, tonal music with compelling text,” he said. “There are messages in these pieces that will resonate with everyone, and we are excited to take you on this journey.”

Leading up to the concert, MCP will feature testimonials from local organizations and community members who have unique insights on the concept of “home,” showcased on the organization’s Instagram and X/Twitter pages, to celebrate the diversity of the local community and highlighting what “coming home” means to people all across Pittsburgh. 

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