Reviews of Chicago Master Singers performances

Ars Viva's key to success – giving audiences young and old the music they want

By John von Rhein, Classical music critic

8:58 a.m. CST, January 10, 2012

Chicago Tribune

There is no busier musician looking after the needs of classical music audiences on the North Shore than Alan Heatherington.

As music director of three respected organizations – the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, Lake Forest Symphony and Chicago Master Singers – the conductor has significantly raised the artistic level of each group. Thanks to the team efforts of his administrative officers and board members, the organizations are operating from a firm fiscal base, in contrast to the economic woes not-for-profits of comparable size are experiencing.

Perfect storm of harmonies from Lake Forest Symphony

By DOROTHY ANDRIES
Classical Music Critic
May 25, 2011 6:48PM

Winnetka Talk (Sun Times / Pioneer Press)

Alan Heatherington conducts the Lake Forest Symphony

Conductor Alan Heatherington combined his Chicago Master Singers and Lake Forest Symphony Friday May 20 in the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts in Grayslake, and the results were stellar.

The featured work of the evening was Mendelsson’s Symphony No. 2 (“Lobgesang”) or “Hymn of Praise,” with sopranos Michelle Areyzaga and Tricia Melzer-Swaydrak, and tenor Kurt R. Hansen as soloists.

…

“Lobgesang” was sung in its original German, with a translation in the program. The singers’ spirited entrance, after the three orchestral movements, was stunning, filling the acoustically fine theater with glorious song.

Chicago Master Singers soar in rare masterworks by Schumann and Bruckner

Sat Nov 06, 2010 at 11:51 am
By Bryant Manning

www.ChicagoClassicalReview.com

It was likely not a concert on most people’s radar, but Friday night’s event in the north suburbs offered one of the choral highlights of the year.

Conductor Alan Heatherington, his Ars Viva Orchestra, a quartet of vocalists and the Chicago Master Singers were top-flight companions in large works of sacred music by Schumann and Bruckner. The music seemed tailor-made for the Divine Word Chapel, a cathedral with a live-wire acoustic that rises like a skyscraper in the remote enclave of Techny, near Northbrook. On an otherwise loaded night of music around the Chicago area, commuters were certainly well rewarded.

Master Singers approach Requiem on devotional terms

...[M]usic director Alan Heatherington led the Chicago Master Singers, Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra and a quartet of vocal solists in a sensitive and moving account of the Verdi Requiem celebrating the chorus' 25th anniversary... Without leaning unduly on the score's operatic gestures, Heatherington conveyed much of the spiritual questioning at the heart of the work... From its ethereal entrance to its terrified cries in the section depicting the apocalyptic day of wrath, the 149-voice Chicago Master Singers showed how far it has grown technically and musically since Heatherington took over the group (formerly known as the New Oratorio Singers) in 1989. Blend, intonation and balance were secure, while the "Sanctus" double fugue moved with a becoming lightness and clarity. Concert info…