Since 2008, the Jubilation Church Choir Festival has celebrated the unique contribution choirs make to their communities of worship. No longer a competition, the 10th Anniversary edition of the Festival, is open to all church choirs in Northeast Ohio. [Read more…]
Review: WCLV’s Jubilation! Elizabeth Stuart Church Choir Festival inspires friendly competition at St. John’s Cathedral (May 9 & 10)
by Daniel Hathaway
Though The Ensemble from Federated Church in Chagrin Falls was the ultimate winner of the 2013 Jubilation! Elizabeth Stuart Church Choir Festival jointly sponsored by WCLV, 104.9 FM and the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, all six choirs took home a cash prize and a plaque as well as the invaluable experience of appearing with each other in a warmly supportive festival. The well-attended finals were held at St. John’s Cathedral on May 9 and 10 and judged by Robert Page, Frank Bianchi and Peter Jarjisian.
On Thursday evening, the Festival Choir of Gesu Parish in University Heights (27 singers) drew the opening slot. Directed by Joseph Metzinger with instrumental assistance from pianist Julia Russ and violinist James Thompson, the ensemble sang a range of music from repurposed Handel choruses to African Chants, a famous Sistine Chapel motet and a Mozart mass movement. [Read more…]
Preview: Six choirs are finalists in the sixth annual Jubliation! Elizabeth Stuart Church Choir Festival
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…]