by Daniel Hathaway

If you’re a church or synagogue-goer, your house of worship probably comes equipped with a choir. Whether they’re made up of amateur or professional singers or a mixture of both, hard-working choirs don’t get out to hear each other very often and have the opportunity to be inspired by other ensembles.

Half a dozen years ago the late Elizabeth Stuart, a WCLV account executive and a fine church choir soprano and soloist herself, decided to fix that. She came up with the idea of a choir festival to be sponsored by Cleveland’s classical FM station. Intended to foster quality choral singing in houses of worship in Northeast Ohio, the festival would also be a competition with prizes attached. After Stuart’s untimely death in December, 2010, WCLV renamed the church choir festival in her honor.

On Thursday and Friday, May 9 and 10 at 8 pm, the six finalists in the 2013 Jubilation! Elizabeth Stuart Church Choir Festival will sing their final rounds, three choirs each night, as part of the Helen D. Schubert Concert Series at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland. Both evenings will be broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM and emceed by Bill O’Connell. [Read more…]