Bella Voce

Description

Photo credit: Joe Mazza | Brave Lux

BELLA VOCE PROUDLY enriches Chicago’s vibrant 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 musical 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. In 2018, after years of partnering with Chicago’s top period-instrument orchestras, we formed our own, called Bella Voce Sinfonia, 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 seek to boldly break boundaries to challenge our audiences to explore the expressive and artistic potential of the human musical imagination. We are committed to the Chicago area and the entire Midwest in making the world a safer, more peaceful, more beautiful place through music.

The ensemble has recorded for Centaur, Harmonia Mundi, Narada, Naxos, and Cedille Records, and also has four self-produced CDs in release. Bella Voce has commissioned choral works by composers Frank Ferko, Gustavo Leone, Gabriel Jackson, Janika Vandervelde, Rami Levin, Ed Frazier Davis, and Caroline Shaw.

Work Sample

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.573952

Brahms, A German Requiem, piano 4-hands, in English

https://www.bellavoce.org/audio

Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610 "Nisi Dominus" with the Bella Voce Sinfonia

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2pvmgn6mtrtln3/20211121%20BV%20Messiah%201.mp3?dl=0

Handel's Messiah -- complete on period instruments

We focus on choral works that engage and inspire, performing a cappella or with our period instrument orchestra

History

Since its founding in 1983 under the name His Majestie’s Clerkes, Bella Voce has delivered its unique, disciplined choral performances to live audiences in Chicago and environs. In 1985, Anne Heider became Artistic Director, and helped shape Bella Voce into a leader in early music and historical performance practices. As the repertoire expanded over time, the organization changed the name in 2001 to Bella Voce.

Our name comes from the Italian for “beautiful voice,” and the name itself emphasizes that from a group of musicians we craft a single voice. We take great pride in our clean and precise sound, evolved from the Cathedral Choirs of Britain—a sound characterized by a clean and pure upper register and a muscular bass.

Since early in its history, Bella Voce collaborated with Chicago’s top period instrument orchestras to produce historically informed productions of early music. In 2018, Bella Voce formed its own period instrument orchestra, Bella Voce Sinfonia, to help advance our mission and artistic vision.

Receiving both critical recognition and media coverage, Bella Voce, at its heart, is about sharing the joy and miracle of breath through music.

Artistic Vision

Bella Voce crafts performances that engage audiences in the dialogue between early music and the music of our time.

Programs for Specific Audience(s) Expertise

We have a wide range of repertoire from Medieval to contemporary, including jazz.