Dallas Chamber Choir

08/22/2024

“While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours” Tim Walz

06/03/2024

"'I Flow... I Am', performed in collaboration with the composer and founding [Dallas Chamber Choir] member, Mari Ésabel Valverde, comes from a larger text entitled "In Praise of Mortality". The text spans a large range of emotions, and in a way serves as a call to action for the audience. It asks for the opportunity to reflect, lean into the inevitable change of life, and perhaps be willing to face adversity to find meaning in the crossroads of your senses."--from program notes by Kyle Feather and Jeremy Rohwer

I Flow… I Am [“XXIX” from "Sonnets to Orpheus II" from "In Praise of Mortality" by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy]
Music by Mari Ésabel Valverde

Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

04/06/2024

Le Van Khoa, composer, photographer, and educator is a hero of legendary proportions, especially to first-generation Vietnam war refugees and classical musicians like myself. Admittedly, I knew very little about him and his profound contributions to classical music as a fellow Vietnamese American, but in a very real sense, I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience the person first. If his music is anything like his grace, good humor, and wit, we're in for a musical feast in tonight's concert program with The Allen Philharmonic Orchestra & Symphony Chorus: Cultural Connections: Vietnam, created by my innovative geniuses and friends, Ian Bui and his wife, Diễm Cơ.

On a personal note, I grew up not seeing too many Vietnamese-born classical musicians who took to it as seriously as I did. So this connection with Bac Le Van Khoa, is a once in lifetime homecoming for me, linking my present and future identity with a legacy in the crucible of an horrific civil war. I am filled with emotions that are too layered to unpack intelligently to myself, let alone to be shared publicly (at least not yet).

I'm incredibly grateful to be included in tonight's program and to be in such esteemed company, including Grammy-winning sopranos, Sangeeta Kaur Teresa Mai and Hila Plitmann, who, besides their enormous talents, are superbly kind and generous.

I'll be leading the Dallas Chamber Choir to give the world premiere of Patrick Vu's "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep," stunning text by Clare Harner (1909-1977), a commissioned work by the Allen Philharmonic that is dedicated to victims of the Allen Outlet Mall mass shooting in May 2023.

The program is richly conceived to include cultural sounds and songs that blend Southeastern Asian-Vietnamese, equipped with traditional, historical instrumentation, with Western and modern at the highest caliber - definitely a feast for the senses.

Limited tickets left - $28.

09/24/2023

The student was blocked from completing their audition and the school board passed a new choir eligibility policy that forces students to perform with the choir that aligns with their s*x assigned at birth.

“We knew there’d be bullies when my child first came out as transgender and nonbinary,” said Marie Moe*, the student’s mother. “There have been a handful. However, I never thought that the worst bullies would be grown men and women — school board members — who’ve abused their power to quite literally remove my child’s voice for the sake of personal and political advancement and religious dogma.”

The complaint also details how the school board’s actions have created a hostile anti-LGBTQIA+ atmosphere at the school. These actions and the school board’s anti-LGBTQIA+ policy violate Title IX by discriminating against students who are transgender and nonbinary.

Read the press release from ACLU of Texas:

https://www.aclutx.org/en/press-releases/aclu-texas-files-federal-complaints-against-dfw-area-schools-anti-lgbtqia-policies

08/23/2023

Wm Clay Thompson - We are so happy for you and proud of all your achievements!!

Mezzo-soprano Lucy Baker, tenor Travon D. Walker, baritone Ian Rucker, bass WM. Clay Thompson, and tenor Alejandro Luévanos perform an excerpt from Rossini’s CINDERELLA.

Photo: Kyle Flubacker

08/20/2023

The Battle of Jericho, Arr. Moses Hogan (1957-2003)
Conductor: Jon L. Culpepper, Founding Artistic Director

Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho, and the walls come tumbalin’ down.

Talk about your kings of Gideon, talk about your men of Saul,
But none like good old Joshua at the Battle of Jericho.

Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho, and the walls come tumbalin’ down.

Right up to the walls of Jericho, he marched with spear in hand. “Go blow that ramhorn!” Joshua cried.

Then the lamb, ram, sheep horns begin to blow, and the trumpet begins to sound.
Joshua commanded the children to shout, and the walls come a tumbalin’ down.

"Spring Senses" program, Music in the Chamber, made possible by City of Frisco TX - Play Frisco - Parks & Recreation, Cultural Affairs Division

08/20/2023

Cool of the Day | Arr. John Ratledge, b. 1954
Conductor: Jon L. Culpepper, Founding Artistic Director

Soloist: Janine Dworin, mezzo-soprano

Oh my Lord, He said to me,
“Do you like My garden so fair?
If you live in My garden you must keep My pastures green,
and I’ll return in the cool of the day.”

And my Lord, He said to me,
“Do you like My garden so fair?
If you live in My garden you must feed My lambs,
and I’ll return in the cool of the day.” Now is the cool of the day.
Oh the earth is a garden, the garden of my Lord.
And He walk in His garden in the cool of the day.

And my Lord, He said to me,
“Do you like my garden so fair?
If you live in My garden you must keep My people free,
and I’ll return in the cool of the day.”

"Spring Senses" program, Music in the Chamber, made possible by City of Frisco TX - Play Frisco, Cultural Affairs Division

06/15/2023

The Star-Spangled Banner - John Stafford-Smith, Arr. Eric Whitacre, b. 1970

"Spring Senses" program, Music in the Chamber, made possible by City of Frisco TX - Play Frisco - Parks & Recreation, Cultural Affairs Division