Public invited to free community concert at South Main Baptist Church on Sunday, Jan. 26th
WHAT: The Grammy® Award-winning Houston Chamber Choir, under the direction of founder and artistic director Robert Simpson, presents the 25th annual Hear the Future Invitational Choral Festival on Sunday, Jan. 26 in the beautiful sanctuary of South Main Baptist Church. Each year, the Houston Chamber Choir invites three outstanding school choirs from the Greater Houston area to participate in this festival.
Thousands of students from the area’s finest K-12 choral programs have participated in Hear the Future over the years. This year’s community concert, celebrating 25 years, features a children’s chorus and middle and high school choirs and is free and open to the public. The event will entertain and inspire audiences as they “hear” that the future of choral music is bright.
Hear the Future gives audience members a chance to show their support and appreciation for the outstanding work being done by music educators and their talented singers. Always a highlight of the year, our 25th Annual Hear the Future Invitational Choral Festival brings together 11 area school choirs over two days to sing and learn together. Leading Saturday’s VIP Masterclass is Dr. Alissa Rowe, Associate Professor and Galante Director of Choral Studies at LSU. On Sunday, we showcase three of our region’s finest choirs.
WHO: This year’s three participating ensembles and their gifted directors include: McCullough Junior High School with director Kelsie Quintana; The Treble Choir of Houston under Marianna Parnas-Simpson and Bethany Stuard and The Woodlands High School, conducted by Patrick Newcomb. The public is invited to enjoy these three fine ensembles, along with the Houston Chamber Choir, in a free concert amid the impressive acoustics of South Main Baptist Church.
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, at 4 p.m. CT
WHERE: South Main Baptist Church, 4100 Main St., Houston, TX 77002
COST: Free
MORE: There is ample parking in the church lot. No tickets are required, and the format is open seating. The festival is appropriate for all ages.
Check out our website at HoustonChamberChoir.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.# # #
Link to photos here
Photo credit: Jeff Grass Photography
About Houston Chamber Choir
Led by Founder and Artistic Director Robert Simpson and Artistic Director Designate Dr. Betsy Cook Weber, the Houston Chamber Choir is a Grammy® Award-winning ensemble of 24 professional musicians selected from the finest choral artists in our region. “One of the jewels of the city’s cultural scene” (Houston Chronicle), the Houston Chamber Choir has brought Houston an array of choral works for 30 years ranging from early music and Baroque masterpieces, including the city’s first period instrument performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass, to the rarely heard Third Sacred Concert by Duke Ellington, and performances and premieres of works by today’s leading composers, many with Houston ties — David Ashley White, Christopher Theofanidis, Dominick DiOrio, J. Todd Frazier, Mark Buller, Karim Al-Zand, Pierre Jalbert, Marcus Maroney, and Daniel Knaggs.
The Houston Chamber Choir’s awards include Chorus America’s Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and the American Prize. They were one of 24 international ensembles selected to appear at the 2020 World Symposium on Choral Music in New Zealand. The Houston Chamber Choir has appeared at national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, the American Guild of Organists, and Chorus America. Tours have taken them to Mexico, Wales, and the Northeastern United States where they performed at Trinity Church, Wall Street in New York City, and Yale University at the invitation of the Institute of Sacred Music.
The Choir’s recording of the complete choral works of French composer Maurice Duruflé was awarded the 2019 Grammy® Award for Best Choral Performance. In January 2022, Signum Classics released its newest recording of compositions by acclaimed British composer Bob Chilcott. For this recording, the Houston Chamber Choir is joined by the Treble Choir of Houston directed by Marianna Parnas-Simpson. The title work, Circlesong, is a 13-movement composition for two choirs, two pianos, and percussion based on indigenous poetry of North America.