Chicago Chamber Choir: Songs of War and Peace

To open its 15th season, the Chicago Chamber Choir (CCC), a skilled choral ensemble of 40 singers under the artistic director of Timm Adams, collaborates for the first time with the esteemed Milwaukee Choral Artists (MCA) for "Songs of War and Peace." Performances take place October 23 in the Milwaukee area and October 24 in the Chicago area.

            "Songs of War and Peace" is a special choral meditation on the human cost of war and the hope for peace. The program, featuring music inspired by conflict and the frailty of the human condition, will showcase the skill and creativity of CCC and MCA, separately and together. CCC will perform "Go Down, Moses" from Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of Our Time, "Alleluia" by Randall Thompson, "Find the Cost of Freedom" by Stephen Stills and others, while MCA will offer, among others, "Hard Times Come Again No More" by Stephen Foster, "Only Light, Only Love" (with the CCC women) by Joan Szymko and "August 1914" by Joel Boyd, winner of MCA's Young Composer Contest for 2010. CCC and MCA will perform works together in Latvian, Greek, Hebrew and Latin. This diverse and emotional program includes music inspired by the ravages of several wars, including the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Vietnam Conflict, as well as the wartime oppression of the Jews and the Greek women of Souli.