Charles Bruffy to Appear in Final Concerts with Phoenix Chorale

The Phoenix Chorale presents a powerful program of music for the final concerts of Artistic Director Charles Bruffy's amazing 18-year tenure on October 27-29 in Sun City, downtown Phoenix and Paradise Valley. The performances include music that is intimately significant to Charles and the 28 members of the Chorale and promises to be an emotionally moving opening to the 2017/18 Season.

Tickets range from $15-$35 with student, senior and active-duty military discounts available.Tickets are $5 more on the day of show. Find more information and purchase tickets at http://www.phoenixchorale.org/concerts/bruffys-best-october-27-29-2017/. Titled Bruffy's Best, the October concerts feature contemporary works influenced by the Renaissance, including Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir and Paul Schoenfield's Motets. Other works include the love madrigal The Long Road by Eriks Esenvalds, Singet dem Herrn by Johann Sebastian Bach,and Sarba Pe Scaun by Alexandru Pascanu along with a special encore.

"From where we started to where we are now, it's been quite a journey and I am so proud of what we have accomplished together," stated Bruffy, "It's been an incredible experience working with these singers all this time... it's going to be very difficult to not be here each week. I'm very grateful to everyone in Phoenix that has helped make my home away from home so warm and welcome all these years. I really feel like our singers, patrons, and supporters are one big family."

One of the leading choral conductors in North America, Charles Bruffy began working with the then named Phoenix Bach Choir in 1999. The organization changed its name to the Phoenix Chorale in 2008, and Bruffy embarked on a journey to increase the organization's profile nationally and internationally. Soon the Phoenix Chorale was signed to the Chandos record label and Bruffy developed major recording projects for the Phoenix Chorale includingShakespeare in Song, Spotless Rose, and Northern Lights. His recordings with the Phoenix Chorale and Kansas City Chorale received a total of ten Grammy Award nominations and three Grammy wins including the recording of Rachmaninoff's All-night Vigil, which won the Grammy for "Best Choral Performance" in 2016. "Charles is such an incredible talent and we've been so fortunate to have him with us in Phoenix for so long. He's given so much to the Chorale -- endless hours on the road and years of dedication to our singers, patrons, and our community, said Jen Rogers, Phoenix Chorale President and CEO. " I know I speak for everyone when I say we wish we could have him with us forever. We've reached such incredible heights and I'm excited to see where he goes from here."

Bruffy's Best Performances:

• ? Friday, October 27 at 7:30 p.m. at American Lutheran Church, 17200 N. Del Webb Blvd., Sun City
• ? Saturday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix
• ? Sunday, October 29 at 3 p.m. at Camelback Bible Church, 3900 E. Stanford Dr., Paradise Valley

Bravo Bruffy! Celebrating Charles Bruffy In conjunction with the performances the Phoenix Chorale will host celebrations and receptions in honor of Charles and his tenure with the Chorale. The public is invited to a Free Open Rehearsal of Bruffy's Best at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on October 6 from 6:30 p.m. with reception at 8 p.m. Visit http://www.phoenixchorale.org/bravobruffy/ to sign our guestbook and view a full listing of events. Repertoire information for Bruffy's Best: Frank Martin (1890-1974) was a Swiss composer who wrote his Mass for Double Choir as an intensely personal expression of his devout Christian faith in 1922, when he was in his early 30s. He added the Agnus Dei finale in 1926, although the work didn't premiere until 1963.

Johann Sebastian Bach's motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (O sing unto the Lord a new song) was composed in the 1720s during Bach's tenure in Leipzig, and includes text taken from Psalms 149 and 150 with Bach's signature fugal writing.

Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds (b. 1977) wrote The Long Road -- an English translation by Elaine Singley Lloyd of his song T?ls Ce?s -- as a setting of a love poem by Paul?ne B?rda, using the verses "I love you night and day as a star in the distant sky ... Overwhelmed, my heart both cries and laughs." Sarba Pe Scaun, sometimes known as Dance on a Chair, was composed by Romanian Alexandru Pascanu (1920-1989), who taught harmony and orchestration at the Bucharest Conservatory and blended a uniquely impressionistic style with his love of traditional folk music. The a capella (unaccompanied) Motets of Paul Schoenfield were written as a modern re-imagining of Renaissance-era song in 1995 for a consortium including the vocal ensembles Chanticleer, the Dale Warland Singers, La Vie and the Phoenix Chorale (then named the Phoenix Bach Choir). Schoenfield was born in Detroit in 1947 and earned his doctorate from the University of Arizona. Purchase tickets and find more information about Bruffy's Best at http://www.phoenixchorale.org/concerts/bruffys-best-october-27-29-2017/. Find more information about Artistic Director Charles Bruffy at http://www.phoenixchorale.org/aboutus/charles-bruffy/.

The GRAMMY Award-winning Phoenix Chorale, under the direction of Artistic Director Charles Bruffy, is regarded as one of the finest choral ensembles in North America. Established in 1958 as a small study group of singers and transitioning in name from the Bach & Madrigal Society of Phoenix to the Phoenix Bach Choir and later to the Phoenix Chorale, the 28-voice ensemble became fully professional in 1992. In 2004 the Phoenix Chorale became the first North American choir to record for the UK's prestigious Chandos Records label, earning eight GRAMMY nominations and two GRAMMY wins. Recordings include Shakespeare in Song, Grechaninov's Passion Week, Spotless Rose, Northern Lights, and Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil. The Chorale aims to be the pre-eminent model for American choral music by redefining the standards of excellence, and its mission is to enrich life through excellence and distinction in choral artistry. The Phoenix Chorale, ensemble-in-residence at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Phoenix, is sponsored in part through grants, funding and support from the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Central Sound at Arizona PBS, 89.5 FM KBACH, and Music at Trinity. Learn more at phoenixchorale.org.

Charles Bruffy: GRAMMY Award-winning choral conductor Charles Bruffy began his career as a tenor soloist performing with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in recordings and concerts. Encouraged by Shaw, Bruffy was named the late great conductor's potential heir by The New York Times in 1999. Bruffy has served as artistic director of the Kansas City Chorale since 1988 and held the same position with the Phoenix Chorale since 1999. He is director of music at Rolling Hills Church and leads the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. Bruffy conducts workshops and clinics, and teaches at the Westminster Choir College Summer Conducting Institute. He has commissioned and premiered works by Ola Gjeilo, Libby Larsen, Zhou Long, Stephen Paulus, Eric Whitacre and Joan Szymko among others. Bruffy's discography includes six recordings with Nimbus Records and eight recordings with Chandos Records, earning the conductor 12 GRAMMY nominations and five GRAMMY wins.

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