(CHICAGO 1/29/2020) On March 14 & 15, Bella Voce will perform the innovative 2001 composition Lost Objects, which adapts the form of Baroque Oratorio to a modern work examining the modern world.
Lost Objects was composed in 2001 by David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe, and it was first performed on 23 May 2001 in Dresden, Germany by Concerto Koln, the RIAS-Kammerchor, and Bang on a Can Lost Objects Ensemble. The work calls for a soprano, 2 countertenors, a small chorus, a DJ, and a Baroque orchestra, as well as electric guitar, electric bass, percussion, and synthesizer.
Bella Voce and Bella Voce Sinfonia are proud to bring performances of this innovative work to Chicago audiences. “Bringing this work to life for Chicago audiences has long been a dream of mine,” says Artistic Director Andrew Lewis. “It’s challenging music, and it requires strong administration as well. Bella Voce has grown in recent years to the point we can present this profound work. It really embodies our mission of crafting performances that engage audiences in the dialogue between early music and the music of our own time. Come experience these rare opportunities to hear this work performed live by extraordinary musicians.”
More information about Lost Objects can be found at: https://davidlangmusic.com/music/lost-objects
Media Kit & Concert Video Links
Why Lost Objects?
Baroque Instruments Meet New Music
Baroque Oratorio | Remixed
Lost Objects Media Kit – Photos & Video HD
Concert Information
Lost Objects, by David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe (Bang on a Can)
Andrew Lewis, conductor
Saturday, March 14 7:30pm
St. James Cathedral
65 E Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60611
Sunday, March 15 3:30pm
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
939 Hinman Ave.
Evanston, IL 60202
Tickets range from $10 – $70 and can be purchased online at www.bellavoce.org or by calling 312.479.1096. Discounts are available for purchasing online, for purchasing a season or partial season package, and for groups of 10 or more.
About Bella Voce
“…one of the crown jewels of choral music in the city” —Chicago Tribune, April 2018
“…historically informed scholarship and lively re-creative intelligence” —Chicago Tribune, October 2017
“…like honey, rich and shining, with soprano voices soaring above the altos, tenors and basses, like light through darkness.” —Chicago Sun Times, 2006
Bella Voce proudly enriches Chicago’s rich cultural tapestry through intimate, moving performances of early music and the music of our time. Since 1983 our ensemble has enchanted audiences with historically informed presentations of fascinating choral and chamber works, whether well-known, rare, or new. We invite our audiences to join us in discovering artworks that have the power to lift us up, move us, and transform us. Our concerts are crafted through research and careful attention to performance practices, and we partner with Chicago’s top period instrument ensembles to bring works for voice and orchestra to life. Our repertoire and performance practices are rooted in the discipline of the English Renaissance and European Baroque traditions, and we boldly break boundaries to challenge our audiences to explore the expressive and artistic potential of the human musical imagination. We are committed to Chicago and to making the world a safer, more peaceful, more beautiful place through art.
In 2004, Bella Voce received the prestigious Alice Parker ASCAP Chorus America Award for programming that was “an adventurous stretch” for both singers and audience, notably the 2002 Midwest premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s “Vigilia.” The ensemble has recorded for Centaur, Harmonia Mundi, Narada, and Cedille Records and also has four self-produced CDs in release. Bella Voce has commissioned choral works by composers including Frank Ferko, Gustavo Leone, Gabriel Jackson, Janika Vandervelde and Rami Levin.
About Andrew Lewis
Recently profiled by John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune as an “inspiring conductor, scholar, and educator,” Andrew Lewis is artistic director of Bella Voce; music director of the Elgin Master Chorale; founder and artistic director of the Janus Ensemble, a professional chamber orchestra specializing in Baroque and new music, which has now evolved into the Bella Voce Sinfonia; choirmaster at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston; assistant conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus; artistic director of Opus 327; and a member of the conducting faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also artistic director emeritus of the Lutheran Choir of Chicago, and he formerly taught conducting at DePaul University. Lewis has been a guest lecturer at Concordia University Chicago, Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, and the nationally recognized Lectures in Church Music series. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, and his performances have been heard live on 98.7 WFMT classical radio. Andrew Lewis and Bella Voce were selected in 2014 by the Chicago Tribune’s John von Rhein as the classical musicians everyone should have on their radar in their fall Arts Preview. Lewis has served as artistic director of Bella Voce since September 2006.
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