The Washington Chorus Announces 2022-2023 Season Featuring Collaborations, Regional Premieres & More

The Washington Chorus led by conductor and Artistic Director, Dr. Eugene Rogers has announced its 2022-2023 season. Featuring regional premieres and collaborations with regional arts organizations, the season kicks off on September 18th. For more information visit The Washington Chorus.

A collaboration with Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts opens the season with an inaugural community event, Joyfully Together! The Washington Chorus's Dr. Eugene Rogers brings together singers from regional ensembles to showcase diverse styles and genres, from vocalists of all ages and backgrounds. The performance will take place at the Filene Center, Wolf Trap. (September 18, 2022)

Influenced by stories of resilience and hope TWC presents "TOMORROW," immersive live music and art experience fostering connection, healing, and hope. Featuring music performed by The Washington Chorus, cellist Élise Sharp, and special guests, the program includes Damien Geter's "Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow," a dramatic film installation, visual artworks, and interactive artmaking. (October 28 and October 29, Live! @ 10th and G).

"We are thrilled about this diverse and remarkable upcoming season as we celebrate our return to singing with our collaboration with Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, the 60th Anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech with a TWC performance of Virginia-native Undine Smith Moore's powerful "Scenes from the Life of a Martyr", our symphonic collaborations with the Baltimore, National, and Sphinx Symphony Orchestras, and TWC's new immersive concert film experience TOMORROW (featuring composerDamien Geter's "Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow"). There's something for everyone, and we look forward to seeing new and familiar faces join us on this journey of musical discovery."

Celebrate the holiday season with the popular A Candlelight Christmas. Led by Dr. Eugene Rogers and featuring performances at the Kennedy Center and The Music Center at Strathmore, this family tradition returns with popular carols and holiday favorites performed by the full chorus, Stafford High School, Reservoir High School, accompanied by organist Paul Byssainthe Jr, and pianist Rod Vester. (December 16, 17, 18, 23 2022)

TWC will partner with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to present a musical meditation on faith and perseverance with the glorious Verdi Requiem. Featuring soprano Michelle Bradley, mezzo, Yulia Matochkina, tenor, Russell Thomas, and Morris Robinson, bass. (January 19-21, 2023, Meyerhoff Hall and Strathmore).

Due to the sharp rise in COVID-19 infections in early 2022, TWC was forced to reschedule two collaborative and powerful pieces to the 22-23 season. Joining forces with Washington Performing Arts, EXIGENCE vocal ensemble, the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, members of TWC will perform Joel Thompson's powerful choral work, Seven Last Words of the Unarmed at the Kennedy Center. The work is a tribute to seven African American men killed by police in recent years. It was commissioned, directed and premiered in 2016 by Dr. Eugene Rogers and the University of Michigan's Men's Glee Club. Rogers will also direct his own arrangement of Glory during the concert. (January 31, 2023)

Dr. Eugene Rogers and members of the chorus join the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) under Maestro Gianandrea Noseda to perform Beethoven Symphony No. 9 at the Kennedy Center. Featuring soprano Camilla Tilling, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford, tenor Issachah Savage and bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann, the three concerts will be recorded live for release on the NSO's record label NSO Live. Noseda will lead the first chorus-orchestra recording of his tenure with three Beethoven symphonies paired with music by trailblazing American composers George Walker and William Grant Still. (June 1-3, 2023)

Closing the season Dr. Eugene Rogers will lead the chorus and orchestra in the D.C. premiere of Virginia-based composer Undine Smith Moore's 16-part oratorio Scenes from the Life of a Martyr. Composed in 1981 in memory of Martin Luther King Jr, and the civil rights movement coupled with the Duruflé Requiem. Moore's wish was to evoke memories of Dr. King and other martyrs, "and the universality of the lives of ordinary men and women who struggled against the tragedies of human existence" (From Spirituals to Symphonies, Helen Walker-Hill.) This landmark event features The Washington Chorus, soloists, and narrator (April 4, 2023. Kennedy Center)

In Spring 2023 TWC will collaborate with DC Public Schools and the Children's Chorus of Washington. More details to follow. DC Free Community Sings Series will return this season dates tbd.

The Washington Chorus (TWC)

A three-time nominated and two-time Grammy Award winner, the 160-voice Washington Chorus presents an annual subscription series at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, regularly performs at the invitation of the National Symphony Orchestra and appears annually at the Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia. It was the first major Washington area chorus to be founded independent of a church or college. The Washington Chorus Fifth Artistic Director Eugene Rogers is widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed next-generation conductors and musical thought leaders today working at the intersection of classical music and social change. For further information please visit The Washington Chorus

COVID-19: Patron and Artist safety

The health and safety of all artists and patrons is a priority. Here you can read more about our COVID protocols.

Washington Chorus / Eugene Rogers, Artistic Director

2022-23 Season Chronology

Joyfully Together!

A community powered singing celebration in collaboration with Wolf Trap

Sunday, September 18, 2022, 5 pm

Tickets $10

Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow (Damien Geter)

Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29, 2022 (7 pm to 10 pm)

Live! at 10th and G, 945 G Street NW

Tickets on sale starting August 15, 2022

Candlelight Christmas at the Kennedy Center

Soloists TBA

Saturday, December 17,

Sunday, December 18,

Candlelight Christmas at the Music Center at Strathmore

Friday, December 16, 2022, 8 pm

Friday, December 23, 2022, 11 am

Tickets on sale starting August 15, 2022, through TWC, Kennedy Center, and Strathmore

Verdi Requiem with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

January 19-21, 2023

This is both at the Meyerhoff and Strathmore halls

Seven Last Words of the Unarmed and Glory with Sphinx Symphony Orchestra

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Scenes from the Life of a Martyr (Undine Smith Moore) + Duruflé Requiem (Maurice Duruflé)

Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 7:30 pm

Kennedy Center Concert Hall

With full chorus, orchestra, and soloists

Soloists TBA

Tickets on sale starting August 15, 2022

Beethoven Symphony no. 9 with National Symphony Orchestra

June 1-3, 2023

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