Of Hope & Destiny: Saturday, March 8, 2025 • 5:00 pm Old South Church

Congratulations to Stephen Spinelli on his GRAMMY® Award  


And the 2025 Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album goes to...

Beyond the Years-450px.jpg...our very own Music Director Dr. Stephen Spinelli, who co-produced the album  Beyond the Years - Unpublished Songs of Florence Price, with soprano Karen Slack, and pianist Michelle Cann. The groundbreaking album features 19 unpublished songs by Florence Price, including 16 world premiere recordings.  ONEcomposer, a nonprofit organization that Spinelli founded with professor Tamara Acosta of Ithaca College, funded and executive-produced the project. ONEcomposer celebrates musicians whose legacies have been historically excluded. 

In addition to co-producing the album (with  Azica  records), Spinelli edited and engraved all the editions utilized for the recordings from manuscript materials—and he authored the liner notes. “For years, I have been studying Florence Price and her wildly unlikely career that yielded hundreds of compositions—most of which were (and remain) unpublished,” says Spinelli. “My reverence of her and her career led me to found ONEcomposer. Having worked with Michelle and Karen for years, the pairing of this powerhouse team made a ton of sense for a recording project celebrating Price’s largely unheralded status as a gifted composer of art song.”

Prior to the album's release, ONEcomposer stated, “The opportunity to hear Price’s songs performed by industry leaders positions her where she belongs—alongside the great art song composers. Karen Slack is one of the most gifted communicators in her industry, and her versatility in presenting recitals, chamber music, and opera is exceptional. Michelle Cann has been championing the works of Florence Price for many years. This album is advocacy. It is an invitation to performers, educators, musicologists, and anyone with curiosity to continue the work of fully realizing Price’s legacy.” 

 Read more about the 2025 GRAMMYS classical winners at wrti.org >.

On Saturday, March 8, 2025,  the Back Bay Chorale, under the direction of Stephen Spinelli, performs Price’s  Song of Hope and additional songs featured on the Grammy winning album. For concert information and tickets, click here. 


Dr. Stephen Spinelli, Music Director

BBC-Stephen Spinelli conducting 350.jpgDr. Stephen Spinelli is Assistant Professor of Choral Studies at  Boston Conservatory at Berklee, serving there since 2022. Spinelli previously served as the assistant director of choral programs at Cornell University, and held visiting appointments at Thomas Jefferson University, Moravian College, Villanova University, and Syracuse University.

Dr. Spinelli has sung with some of the country’s leading vocal ensembles. As a tenor with the Crossing, his credits include the 2018 Grammy Award®–winning recording of Gavin Bryars’s The Fifth Century. Spinelli also performed with the genre-bending vocal octet Roomful of Teeth. He assisted in the production of their Grammy Award–winning debut album, which yielded the Pulitzer Prize®–winning recording of Caroline Shaw’s Partita for Eight Voices. As a frequently engaged guest conductor, he particularly cherishes his experiences leading the Maui Chamber Orchestra and Chorus.

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What music critics are saying about Back Bay Chorale:

“...powerfully, courageously, accurately, and conveying deep engagements...”

Read Lee Eiseman's review of Back Bay Chorale's performance of Georg Friedrich Handel's Israel in Egypt in  Boston Classical Review:
Back Bay Chorale Strikes Fire with Exodus >

“...an enveloping warmth and splendor...earthshaking power...”

Read Aaron Keebaugh's review of Back Bay Chorale's performance ofJohannes Brahms's  Ein deutsches Requiem  in Boston Classical Review:
Back Bay Chorale closes season with a warm, consolatory Brahms Requiem >

What our Bridges ESOL Chorus participants say about their experience:

“you don’t have to fear making a mistake...”

Listen to WBZ NewsRadio 1030's report about our ESOL Chorus.
Boston Chorus Aims To Help Non-English Speakers Hone The Language >


Your gift keeps us singing.

Thank you to all who continue to support Back Bay Chorale. Your presence at our concerts is vital, and we are thrilled to have sold out our 2024 fall and Christmas performances. Your ongoing donations ensure that we can continue to live into our commitment to musical excellence and community engagement.

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Back Bay Chorale shares the power of voice, advancing the spirit of community.

Founded in 1973, the Back Bay Chorale is a 120-member auditioned chorus. For nearly 50 years, we have drawn talented singers from the greater Boston area to perform a repertoire that ranges from the Renaissance to the contemporary.
 

In addition to our annual concert series, the Chorale also shares music throughout the Boston community through our Bridges program. 
 

Musician, minister, and social activist Larry Hill founded the Back Bay Chorale  at Boston’s Church of the Covenant to create a musical ministry that would bring meaning to both singers and their audience.
 

In the years since Hill’s death in 1989, the Chorale has continued to grow in stature and is now regarded as one of Boston’s premier nonprofessional choruses.