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The Wisconsin Chamber Choir (= WCC), based in Madison, Wisconsin, has established a reputation for choral excellence in the performance of repertoire ranging from Renaissance madrigals to 20th-century avant-garde. In their short history, the 24 to 40-voice ensemble has performed over one hundred works, recorded seven CD’s, and garnered praise for precision and beauty of tone. WCC has toured regionally throughout south-central Wisconsin and its environs.
Notable applause for WCC:
2000 - WCC performs at the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association’s annual convention in Appleton, Wisconsin.
2001 - WCC pays tribute to the victims of September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in a concert at the Madison Civic Center and Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Sunday Afternoon Live at the Elvehjem” series selects WCC to perform on their live statewide radio broadcast form UW-Madison.
2002 - WCC is the only Wisconsin choir to perform in Rochester, Minnesota’s “A Festival of Music” and in New Hampton, Iowa’s “Carnegie Cultural Center” and WCC commissions and premiers Cincinnati composer Howard Helvey to create new choral works on the poetry of 19th-century New England transcendentalist poet Jones Very.
2003 - Wisconsin Newspapers staff writer Tom Alesias chose WCC’s December performance of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) as one of the top twenty concerts of 2003 and Wisconsin Newspapers music critic, Jake Stockinger, chose WCC’s recording of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) as one of the top ten CD;s of the year.
2004 - WCC performs at the gala opening celebration of the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, Wisconsin. Other participants included Dave Brubeck and Art Garfunkel.
2006 - WCC premiers Now Show Us Your Rainbow, a commission from Atlanta-based composer Ethan Amir Zaheri commemorating the victims of the December 2004 Asian tsunami.
2007 - WCC leads “sing-along caroling with Samuel Hutchison, Principal Organist and Curator of the Madison Symphony Orchestra” at Madison’s Overture Center and appears at the Wisconsin Choral Director’s Association (WCDA) convention in Madison at Bethel Lutheran Church.
2009 - WCC performs at the historic Richland County Performing Arts Center Auditorium.
2010 - WCC premiers Stephen Chatman’s Nature’s Cry.
2011 - WCC performs Haydn's Creation at the historic Madison Masonic Center.
2012 - WCC performs composer Judith Shatin's world premiere, The Glory of God.
Gary McKercher founded the WCC in 1998 and was its Artistic Director until 2007. The WCC appointed Robert Gehrenbeck as Artistic Director in June 2008 after an extensive search for conductors. |
