IU Jacobs School of Music's Contemporary Vocal Ensemble Performs in Chicago

The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Contemporary Vocal Ensemble (CVE), conducted by Carmen Helena Téllez, will perform a free concert at the Art Institute of Chicago's Fullerton Hall Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.

The program, "Vision and Belief," will feature the American premiere of Mario Lavista's Stabat Mater as well as the premiere of arias on texts by Mexican poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Chicago composer Elbio Barilari. The arias are part of an upcoming opera on the life of this fascinating feminist poet from the Mexican Baroque and will feature Indiana University soprano Sharon Harms. The program concludes with Figure humaine, one of the most celebrated choral works of Francis Poulenc, dedicated to the French resistance against the Nazis.

The ensemble will also perform "Vision and Belief" Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. in the Jacobs School's Auer Hall in Bloomington.

Téllez previously conducted the CVE in Chicago with "Praise" -- the imposing oratorio by Ralph Shapey -- in collaboration with the University of Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players in 2002.

The Jacobs School Contemporary Vocal Ensemble is one of the most progressive university-based performing groups in the United States and the world. Dedicated to the study and performance of vocal and choral repertoire written after 1900, it includes singers, composers, young scholars and instrumentalists chosen for their outstanding musical gifts and for their special interest in the music of our time. Depending on the repertoire, the ensemble adjusts its size to perform from solo and chamber choral works to larger oratorio-like compositions. After its foundation in 1980 by Alan Harler, the ensemble was directed by Professor Jan Harrington until 1992 and is presently conducted by Professor Carmen Helena Téllez.

The CVE's concerts combine recognized compositions with première performances and special commissions. Recent projects have included the commission and premiere of James MacMillan's Sun-Dogs and the collegiate premieres of John Adams's oratorio El Niño and Osvaldo Golijov's opera Ainadamar. The CVE also commissioned the Missa ad Consolationais Dominam Nostram by Mario Lavista and produced the premiere performance of Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz's opera ¡Unicamente la verdad! in 2008.

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