The Mastersingers joined forces with the Cascade Chorale and the Central Oregon Symphony in presenting this choral/orchestral masterwork. Michael Gesme conducted the performances to a nearly full house for all three concerts. James Knox and Melissa Bagwell appeared as soloists.

View the full program from this concert.

The Mastersingers joined forces with the Bells of Sunriver, Central Oregon's great handbell choir, to present "Ring Noel," a traditional family Christmas concert for all ages. Delightful renditions of perennial Christmas favorites were heard alongside fresh new music for the season. The Bells of Sunriver presented clever takes on familiar carols with "Carolers' Hoedown" and "We Wish You a Ragtime Christmas." Included in the Mastersingers' selections were carols by John Rutter and a thrilling rendition of the African-American spiritual, "Go Tell it on the Mountain."

The Mastersingers opened their fifth season with a benefit concert in support of Bend Area Habitat for Humanity. This concert was a celebration of home and hearth, presenting new arrangements of classic songs by Paul Simon, Carole King, and Neil Young, along with other vintage Americana - old hymns, spirituals, and works by Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. A featured work was the ravishing "Agnus Dei" by Samuel Barber, the choral setting of his famous "Adagio for Strings."

Proceeds from this concert were donated to the Bend Area Habitat for Humanity, building new homes for Central Oregon families in need.

View the full program from this concert.

View the Bend Bulletin article about this concert

From the Italian Renaissance polyphony of Gabrieli and Monteverdi, to the delightful "Liebeslieder Waltzes" - the "Love Songs" - of Brahms; from the Russian liturgical music of Rachmaninoff, to African-American spirituals: the Mastersingers' spring concerts were a multi-textured, multi-colored tapestry of great choral music from the 16th to the 21st centuries. Gems from the past were heard alongside new works that are quickly becoming classics, including Eric Whitacre's ecstatic masterpiece, "Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine." A nine-piece brass choir joined the singers on several numbers.

View the full program from this concert.

The Central Oregon Mastersingers opened their fourth season with a concert entitled "Going Home." Traditional American music and songs from around the world were presented that touched on the ageless themes of searching and discovering, departing and arriving, beginning and ending. Our tumultuous times, both at home and abroad, were the inspiration for many of the musical choices, including historic presidential campaign songs, and folk songs from Latin America, Europe, and the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. A composition by Clyde Thompson was featured which set a Zimbabwean poem describing that country's tenuous efforts at striving for democracy. Old American hymns and spirituals were heard, including the poignant setting of the Largo from Dvorak's New World Symphony, "Goin' Home." The Summit High School Chorale and Crook County High School Choir joined the Mastersingers in a grand finale.

View photos from this concert

The Mastersingers were invited to take part in a collaboration with the Cannon Beach Chorus for performances of Clyde Thompson's cantata "We Have Spoken - Voices from Native America." The performances took place at the Coaster Theatre in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

The Bend contingent of singers and musicians involved with the project numbered twenty one people. Clyde Thompson directed the performances. The Mastersingers' accompanist, Jean Shrader, was joined by Kathy Gault in providing the two-piano accompaniment. Steve Osterkamp and Katrina Hays appeared as soloists.

The texts for the hour-long cantata are taken entirely from Native American literature, and paint a broad picture of the history of the American Indians from before the time of Columbus to the end of the nineteenth century. The cantata was commissioned by the New Classic Singers, a professional choir based in Chicago, Illinois. The New Classic Singers premiered the work in 2002. The Cascade Chorale gave the Northwest premiere of the cantata in the spring of 2003, and reprised it twice - in the fall of 2003, and again in the fall of 2004. Nine of the twenty movements have been published separately, and have received performances throughout the country, including a performance at the new National Museum of the Native American, in Washington D.C. The performances in Cannon Beach were the first since 2004 to present the cantata in its entirety.

View photos from our 2008 reprise of this concert:

View the full program from this concert

View the Bend Bulletin article about this concert

The Central Oregon Mastersingers' first performance of Handel's Messiah was a rousing success and was presented to a sold-out crowd on both nights at the First Presbyterian Church in Bend Oregon. The Mastersingers reprised the masterpiece in 2008 at Bend High School.

Handel's Messiah has won such an honored place in our culture and in our minds and hearts over the past two and a half centuries that many consider it the world's greatest choral work. Annual performances of it have been given without break since 1750, with forces ranging from a handful of singers standing around a piano, to massed choruses with as many as 5000 people.

The Central Oregon Mastersingers performed the work with numbers similar to what Handel may have had at the premiere in Dublin in 1742 - a chorus of 42 singers, and a twenty one piece orchestra. The Mastersingers' orchestra replicated Handel's baroque orchestra, with pairs of oboes and bassoons, organ and harpsichord in addition to strings. The resulting performance was a faithful rendition of Handel's score.

View the full program from this concert

The Central Oregon Mastersingers began their third season with a program that explored connections between music of our day and the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Some exciting new sounds were discovered in the process.

Sacred music from the great Medieval cathedrals were heard alongside new sacred works by contemporary composers such as John Tavener and Arvo Part. Popular songs from the early Renaissance by Guillaume Dufay were coupled with new songs especially arranged for this concert. Adding some jazz touches to the music of old created a fresh way of viewing those early works.

Appearing as special guests were some of Central Oregon's finest jazz musicians and songwriters: Michelle Van Handel, Michael Scott, Andy Armer, Andy Warr, and Steven Tate, along with classical guitarist and lutenist Hideki Yamaya.

View the full program from this concert

View the Bend Bulletin article about this concert

A spirited collection of madrigals, chansons, and art songs expounding on the perennial themes of love and the seasons comprised this second concert presented by the Central Oregon Mastersingers. The featured work was the a cappella masterpiece "Hymn to St. Cecilia" by Benjamin Britten. Other featured composers were Eric Whitacre, Paul Hindemith, and two great madrigalists of the Elizabethan era, Thomas Morley and Thomas Weelkes (the Beatles of their day). The Romantic Era was represented by a setting of Schubert's delightful chamber work, "The Trout." American folk songs and spirituals rounded out the program.

View the full program from this concert

Among the many great settings of the Catholic Mass of the Dead, Durufle's is unique in that every movement is based on the corresponding plainchant to which the text was sung in the Middle Ages. Rather than being restricting to the composer, these ancient melodies are a springboard for Durufle's creativity. They help to give the music a quality of profound emotional depth. Durufle's writing conveys both intense spiritual struggle and a vision of hope. His harmonies create moods ranging from ethereal to powerfully foreboding. Maurice Durufle' wrote this setting of the Requiem Mass in 1947 in honor of his recently deceased father. One cannot help but imagine that he was also responding to the horrific losses of World War II. Since then the work has come to be regarded as one of the finest masterpieces in the sacred choral repertoire from the twentieth century.

The Mastersingers gave an encore performance of this work on Good Friday, April 6, 2007 at First Presbyterian Church in Bend.