The Complete Chorister
Spring 2021
16 Sesssions
for $180
Monday evenings
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
January 11–May 10 via Zoom
(No sessions on March 8, April 19)
Sign up today.Participants are strongly encouraged to purchase a choral score of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem ($38 at sheetmusicplus.com. Currently on sale for $30.40 ).
Why do we sing? What is it about music that draws us together? How does our singing create such a strong sense of community?
When we realized that our singing community would not be able to gather this year, we determined to take advantage of the time to explore together how and why singing—and especially singing in community—is so vital to the human experience.
The Complete Chorister is devised around this idea of gathering our musical community each week. Led by Artistic Director Scott Allen Jarrett and Associate Conductor Katherine Chan, and joined by a distinguished panel of guests, our sessions will:
Offer weekly group singing • Explore topics about and around the music we sing • Highlight the history of choral music in America
Announcing the Spring 2021 Session
Expanded to 16 Sessions! January 11 through May 10.

Building on the success of our fantastic fall season, we are offering 16 weeks of The Complete Chorister from January 11 through May 10. Sessions are Monday nights from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Zoom.
Choral Passport: I Hear America Singing
The Choral Passport series continues with five sessions devoted to America's song.
Anthony Trecek King will share his research and insights into the music of Black Americans from as early as 1619, and Teresa Neff will share the amazing story of Boston’s own Handel and Haydn Society—both revealing a country writing its song, generation by generation. We'll also examine the impact of Leonard Bernstein and Robert Shaw on American classical music and the performance of choral music.
Cantatas of Bach and Britten’s War Requiem
TCC participants will continue to refine their singing skills and keep their voices in shape in six sessions devoted to our core repertoire.
BU Professor of History and Political Science James Schmidt will help us understand both the cultural, poetic, and historical contexts that come together in one of the most emblematic works of the 20th Century: Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach has long been a favorite of Chorale members, and TCC participants this Spring will have a chance to learn three of Scott’s favorite cantatas with one of the world’s most sought after Bach singers, counter-tenor Reginald Mobley, as our guest respondent.
Why We Sing
TCC participants will collaborate with the Chorale’s ESL Chorus in a “digital choir” recording project and also rehearse and debut a commissioned work.
Our rendition of the National Anthem with our ESL Chorus will be offered virtually to continue our service-in-song for naturalization ceremonies. In August 2020, we commissioned Seattle composer and conductor Karen P. Thomas to write a new piece, which we will study, record, and premiere at our final session on May 10, 2021.

January 11
Glory Hallelujah!
The history of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, which tracks the history and progress of choral singing in America
with Teresa Neff, PhD
Teresa Neff Bio
Neff has been the Handel and Haydn Society’s Christopher Hogwood Historically Informed Performance Fellow since 2009 and co-edited The Handel and Haydn Society: Bringing Music to Life for 200 Years, in addition to authoring a chapter for that publication.

January 18
Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach
Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39
with Reginald Mobley
Reginald Mobley Bio

January 25
Britten War Requiem, Part 1
Modern musical memorials
with James Schmidt, PhD
James Schmidt Bio

February 1
Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach
Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75
with Reginald Mobley
Reginald Mobley Bio

February 8
Why We Sing
Digital Choir Project with ESL Chorus, I
with Scott Allen Jarrett and Katherine Chan
Participants will collaborate with the Chorale’s ESL Chorus in a “digital choir” recording of our national anthem, to continue our support of naturalization ceremonies.
M O R E
Music and English are universal languages. Everyone should have access to these languages without fear of making mistakes, whether spoken or sung. In partnership with the Boston Public Library, our Bridges E.S.L. Singing Group provides participants with an opportunity to make vocal music, improve their English language skills, and develop friendships with fellow community members — singers from Back Bay Chorale.

February 15
I, Too, Sing America, Part 1
(1619–1945)
Music of Black Americans from the earliest slave songs through the "concert spiritual"
with Anthony Trecek-King
Anthony Trecek-King Bio
Ensembles under his direction were integral to projects that have won a Pulitzer Prize (Madam White Snake, Zhou Long), received a Grammy (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Boston Modern Orchestra Project), and earned the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from Presidential Committee on the Arts (Boston Children’s Chorus). Dr. Trecek-King has worked with a variety of artists and ensembles including Leslie Odom Jr., Melinda Doolittle, Seraphic Fire, Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Gil Rose, Simon Halsey, Yo Yo Ma, and Roomful of Teeth.

February 22
I, Too, Sing America, Part 2
(Civil Rights Era)
Lift ev'ry voice – We shall overcome – Precious Lord: The music that shaped a movement
with Anthony Trecek-King
Anthony Trecek-King Bio
Ensembles under his direction were integral to projects that have won a Pulitzer Prize (Madam White Snake, Zhou Long), received a Grammy (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Boston Modern Orchestra Project), and earned the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from Presidential Committee on the Arts (Boston Children’s Chorus). Dr. Trecek-King has worked with a variety of artists and ensembles including Leslie Odom Jr., Melinda Doolittle, Seraphic Fire, Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Gil Rose, Simon Halsey, Yo Yo Ma, and Roomful of Teeth.

March 1
Why We Sing
Digital Choir Project with ESL Chorus, II
with Scott Allen Jarrett and Katherine Chan
Participants will collaborate with the Chorale’s ESL Chorus in a “digital choir” recording of our national anthem, to continue our support of naturalization ceremonies.
M O R E
Music and English are universal languages. Everyone should have access to these languages without fear of making mistakes, whether spoken or sung. In partnership with the Boston Public Library, our Bridges E.S.L. Singing Group provides participants with an opportunity to make vocal music, improve their English language skills, and develop friendships with fellow community members — singers from Back Bay Chorale.

March 15
Why We Sing
Canticum Novum Digital Choir Project, I
with Scott Allen Jarrett
Back Bay Chorale commissioned Seattle composer and conductor Karen P. Thomas to write a new piece, which we will study, record, and premiere at our final session on May 10.
Karen P. Thomas Bio
A prize-winning composer, she has received grants from the NEA, The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and Meet the Composer, among numerous others. Among her many commissions are works for the Harvard/Radcliffe Choirs, the Grand Jubilee in Rome, the American Guild of Organists, the Pacific Chorale, Chorus Austin, and the Association of Anglican Musicians.

March 22
A Simple Song
Leonard Bernstein's Mass

March 29
Robert Shaw
Man of Many Voices
Ann Howard Jones Bio
Recognized as a distinguished clinician, adjudicator, teacher and conductor, Dr. Jones has led many all-state and regional choruses, workshops, and master classes in the U.S., Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. She has been invited to teach and conduct at the University of Iowa, the University of North Texas, Michigan State University, University of Missouri University of Miami, San Diego State University, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Southern Methodist University, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and many others.
From 1984 to 1998, Dr. Jones was the assistant conductor to the late Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony choruses, where she was the assistant conductor for choruses, sang in the alto section, assisted with the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, and helped to organize the Robert Shaw Institute. She sang and recorded with the Festival Singers both in France and in the U.S. The Festival Singers were also represented in annual performances of major works for chorus and orchestra at Carnegie Hall in a series of performance workshops.
Among the honors that Jones has received are the coveted Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching from Boston University, a Fulbright professorship to Brazil, and a lectureship for the Lily Foundation. At the ACDA national conference in 2011, she was named the recipient of the Robert Shaw Choral Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession, the highest award given by the association. In 2012 she received the Distinguished Service award from Chorus America, and in 2015 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Choral Arts New England.

April 5
Why We Sing
Canticum Novum Digital Choir Project, II
with Karen P. Thomas
Back Bay Chorale commissioned Seattle composer and conductor Karen P. Thomas to write a new piece, which we will study, record, and premiere at our final session on May 10.
Karen P. Thomas Bio
A prize-winning composer, she has received grants from the NEA, The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and Meet the Composer, among numerous others. Among her many commissions are works for the Harvard/Radcliffe Choirs, the Grand Jubilee in Rome, the American Guild of Organists, the Pacific Chorale, Chorus Austin, and the Association of Anglican Musicians.

April 12
Britten War Requiem, Part 2
Poetry of Wilfred Owen
with James Schmidt, PhD
James Schmidt Bio

April 26
Britten War Requiem, Part 3
The futility of war: The case for the War Requiem today
with James Schmidt, PhD
James Schmidt Bio

May 3
Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach
Man singet mit Freuden, BWV 149
with Reginald Mobley
Reginald Mobley Bio

May 10
Why We Sing
Canticum Novum Digital Choir Project, III
with Karen P. Thomas
Back Bay Chorale commissioned Seattle composer and conductor Karen P. Thomas to write a new piece, which we will premiere at this session.
Karen P. Thomas Bio
A prize-winning composer, she has received grants from the NEA, The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and Meet the Composer, among numerous others. Among her many commissions are works for the Harvard/Radcliffe Choirs, the Grand Jubilee in Rome, the American Guild of Organists, the Pacific Chorale, Chorus Austin, and the Association of Anglican Musicians.