The Columbine Chorale, Denver, Colorado, USA, was founded in 1987 by well-known choral conductor Richard Eichenberger as a chamber choir of 35 selected voices. The following year the ensemble was enlarged to 60 singers, which remains its approximate present size.
In addition to performances in Colorado, the Chorale has made three European tours, including Belgium, Germany and Austria in 1990 and another in 1999 encompassing Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. In 2003, the Chorale conducted on a highly successful 18-day concert tour which took it from St. Petersburg, Russia through Latvia, Estonia and Finland to Stockholm, Sweden.
Although primarily an a cappella ensemble, the Columbine Chorale has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado and the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra in Golden, Colorado. The Chorale performed in the production of Karl Orff's Carmina Burana with the Colorado Ballet in 2000. With the Arapahoe Philharmonic the Chorale has performed Gustav Mahler's Symphony #2, Resurrection, Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, The Choral, and, most recently, pops concerts of Rodgers and Hammerstein favorites.
The Chorale's "May Flights of Angels" CD carries the listener from the time of William Byrd with his Mass for Five Voices to contemporary settings and compositions, such as the moving Song for Athene of John Tavener and seveal spirituals.
Read more...