Choral Ensembles Concert

The Biola Chorale, under the direction of Shawna Stewart, will join in concert with the Women's Chorus, directed by Carol Aspling, and Men's Chorus. The evening will include classic and contemporary choral works as well as beloved spirituals.

The Biola University Chorale is comprised of 34 voices from various disciplines on campus, with nearly eighty percent being voice majors. It invites those with a skilled voice and quality musicianship, combined with a heart for worshiping God and glorifying Him through the art of choral singing. Dedicated to excellence in performance and literature, the Chorale offers a varied repertoire from traditional choral works to contemporary genres such as jazz and gospel.

The Chorale tours domestically each year and internationally every four years. Stateside tours include Colorado, Northern and Southern CA, Washington, Oregon, Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York City. Abroad, they have travelled to Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy and South Korea. In Southern California, the Chorale annually participates in prestigious area festivals as well as hosts a two-day invitational high school, community and Christian college choral festival every November.

Each Spring they join forces with the Biola Symphony Orchestra for the performance of a major choral-orchestral work. Those performances have included Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Poulenc’s Gloria, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass in C Major and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat. In addition to a yearly season of many Biola-related concerts, the Chorale also performs at notable area churches.

They have been seen on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, performing the music from the Passion of the Christ, at Disney’s inaugural D23 alongside Broadway’s Lion King Mufasa, Alton White, and in Carnegie Hall under the direction of famed composer Eric Whitacre where they premiered his new work The City and the Sea. In May of 2012, they joined with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra under renowned conductor Carl St. Clair for the premier performance of Robert Denham’s oratorio Under the Shadow.