Bellevue Chamber Chorus: Why We Sing – Celebrating 40 Years!
$20 ($15 senior/teacher/singer; $10 student ages 13 & over)
- Minju Kim, piano
- Ben Luedcke, conductor
- Julia Bezems, conductor
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Exultate Deo
Virgil Thomson — Follow Your Saint
Virgil Thomson — Rose Cheek'd Laura, Come
Taylor Davis — How Can I Keep from Singing
Jacob Narverud — Let the Music Fill Your Soul
Dan Forrest — The Music of Living
Ēriks Ešenvalds — My Song
Johannes Brahms — Warum ist das Licht gegeben den Mühseligen?, Op. 74, No. 1
John Rutter — When Music Sounds
Judith Shatin — Why the Caged Bird Sings
Join the Bellevue Chamber Chorus for the kickoff of our 40th year of singing! Joined by horn and violin, this concert explores the power of music to shape the mind, soften the heart, and inspire the soul. Seemingly uncontainable lust finds an outlet through song, and gratitude for every day of new life inspires a joyful sound. Even in times of war, music has compelled armies to stand down and to sing with the enemy. Plagued by violence, inequality, and suffering, music inspires us to be better people and to work for change. Through the chaos and the clutter, live music performance gives us the rare gift of forgetting ourselves in the song. Join us for pieces by Palestrina, Brahms, John Rutter, Dan Forrest, Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds, and more! Let the music fill your soul!
2 performances of this program:
- Saturday, November 11, 7:30pm at First Congregational Church in Bellevue
- Sunday, November 12, 3pm at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Mercer Island
About Bellevue Chamber Chorus
Bellevue Chamber Chorus, founded in 1984, performs a minimum of three major concerts each season, encompassing a variety of choral literature from the classical standards and contemporary works to world music, Broadway hits, and vocal jazz. The Chorus often joins other ensembles in performances of major choral/orchestral works, such as Mozart’s Vespers and Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Requiem, Rutter's Mass of the Children, and Ariel Ramirez' Misa por la Paz y la Justicia. The ensemble has premiered works by regional composers, including commissioned works for the Washington State Centennial Celebration, the grand opening of the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center, a special 20th anniversary season commissioned piece, That Music Always Round Me, by Seattle composer, John Muehleisen, and co-commissions of pieces by Andre Thomas and Eric Whitacre. The Chorus has released three CDs, “Timeframes”, “Retrospective”, and our 2013 holiday CD, “Christmas Visions, Winter Dreams”. Bellevue Chamber Chorus tours often and has performed in Carnegie Hall, various locations in Europe, the International Music Festival (2000) in Sydney, Australia, and twice at the invitational Kathaumixw International Choral Festival in Powell River, British Columbia, where they won first place in 2008 in the adult mixed chorus category. Other performances include the Leavenworth International Choral Festival, the international “Rolling Requiem” in memory of September 11th, as one of the regional choruses in the NEA sponsored American Masterpieces Choral Festival in Seattle, and in Kelowna, B.C. as part of the Okanogan Choral Society Series. The Chorus toured the south of France in the summer of 2017 and participated in the 22nd International Choir Festival in Provence, and the 9th International Choir Festival in Aveyron. The Chorus has been selected as one of only six choirs to perform in a special GSCC event “Welcome Home Morten Lauridsen” in October 2019. Bellevue Chamber Chorus has active memberships in the Bellevue Downtown Association, Greater Seattle Choral Consortium (GSCC) and Chorus America. The Chorus is supported in part by the Bellevue Arts Commission and 4Culture.
http://bellevuechamberchorus.org/About Minju Kim, piano
Pianist Dr. Minju Kim, a native of South Korea, has established herself as a versatile soloist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist. Minju has won numerous awards, including the Sidney Wright Accompanying Competition, Korean Music Association Competition, and Korea-Germany Brahms Association Competition. With her avid interest in chamber music, Minju joined Bowdoin International Music Festival and Music Academy of the West as a fellow in collaborative piano. Currently, Minju serves as collaborative pianist at Shoreline Community College, Seattle University, and Northwest Girlchoir, and works with several private studios for instruments and voice. Minju holds degrees in Piano Performance from Seoul National University (B.M.), Indiana University (M.M./P.D.), and University of Texas in Austin (D.M.A), and in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory (M.M.).
About Ben Luedcke, conductor
Ben Luedcke is in his fifth season with the Bellevue Chamber Chorus, as he began as Artistic Director in 2019. Ben is also the Minister of Music at Seattle First Baptist Church in downtown Seattle. He is currently finishing his Doctorate of Musical Arts at University of Washington and he has held teaching positions in the choral, musicology, and English departments.
Before moving to Washington, Ben was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Monmouth College, where he conducted the Monmouth Chorale and Chamber Choir. Ben has also served as faculty at Grinnell College, where he conducted both the Grinnell Singers and the Grinnell Oratorio Society. Ben is known in Madison, Wisconsin for several of his startup organizations: he was the co-founder and director of Voces Aestatis, a Wisconsin-based professional choir that specialized in the a cappella repertoire of the sixteenth century. Likewise, Ben was the founder and artistic director of Madison Summer Choir, a community chorus that performed large orchestral works. He lives in Seattle with his wife, Vanessa, and their two dogs, Luthor and Oona.
https://bellevuechamberchorus.org/about/#artistic-directorAbout Julia Bezems, conductor
Julia Bezems is excited to join the Bellevue Chamber Chorus for their 2023-24 Season as Student Assistant Conductor. Hailing from Allentown, PA, Julia holds Bachelors degrees in voice performance and computer science from the University of Michigan, and she is now active as a choral conductor and ensemble singer in the Seattle area. While at the University of Michigan, she performed frequently as a soprano with the Chamber Choir and as a soloist with the University Baroque Orchestra. Since moving to the Seattle area in 2022, she has sung with Seattle Pro Musica, Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, and Northwest Symphony Orchestra, and Radiance vocal ensemble. She serves as the co-leader of the Seattle branch of Crescendo North America, an international organization for Christian musicians, and she freelances as a choral conductor for projects with Crescendo and other community engagements. Julia works as a software engineer at Microsoft, and she enjoys hiking and studying theology.
https://soundcloud.com/julia-bezems