Chorale Midwest performing Cedar Rapids concert after Carnegie Hall appearance

On June 7, 1981, Ellen Maldonado came to niece Christina Farrell’s first piano recital, bearing a $2 bill and a note saying the 7-year-old could spend it when she made her Carnegie Hall debut. They all resided in Queens, N.Y., at the time, a relatively short hop from the famed Manhattan concert hall.

On March 13, Farrell, now 47 and living in Cedar Rapids, sang with Chorale Midwest in that hallowed venue — and used her money to buy two $1-stickers at Carnegie Hall. She said her aunt, who now lives in Connecticut, “was excited to learn that I finally made it, and she sent her congratulations.”

Sixty singers from the 72-member chorale, plus 60 family and friends, flew from Chicago to New York City for a whirlwind three days of rehearsing, sightseeing, attending a Broadway show and appearing in concert.

Farrell, a master teaching artist, has performed with the Washington National Opera, Baltimore’s Opera Vivente, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and as a finalist with the National Symphony Orchestra’s Young Soloists’ Competition at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

But Carnegie Hall is the pinnacle of success for musicians like Farrell, who earned a bachelor in fine arts in vocal performance from another Carnegie — Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh — and a master’s degree in educational theater from New York University.

“Carnegie Hall is a symbol of achievement and hard work for classical musicians,” she said. “So it was an honor to be able to stand on the same stage as so many legendary performers of the past and to share the experience with the dedicated musicians of Chorale Midwest.”

The ensemble, based in Cedar Rapids, was invited to join a mass choir of 250 singers performing Iowa composer Elaine Hagenberg’s “Illuminare,” under the baton of James Rodde, artistic director of the Des Moines Choral Society and director of choral activities at Iowa State University in Ames. Hagenberg, a Drake University graduate, has been arranging and creating music for the Des Moines ensemble since 2014.

Chorale Midwest, and a consortium of other choirs, commissioned the five-movement “Illuminare” to celebrate the chorale’s 25th anniversary in 2022, and premiered the 24-minute work at its spring concert in April 2022.

Hagenberg then invited the group to sing in the composition’s Carnegie Hall premiere, along with the Des Moines Choral Society, Iowa State Singers, Cherry Creek Chorale from Englewood, Colo., the University of Kentucky Chorale, and a few other invited singers.

In addition to singing “Illuminare,” the five participating choirs performed their own sets individually, conducted by their own directors. Chorale Midwest and its Chamber Singers were the only ensembles to receive a standing ovation for their solo performances, said director Bradley Barrett, 63, of Cedar Rapids.

“And it was a packed audience,” he noted, adding that his singers were overjoyed, as well.

“It’s the most moved I’ve ever seen people after their concert, because they knew they had sung so well.”

He called their performance “phenomenal.”

“I really think the Chorale Midwest, right now, is the finest ensemble I’ve ever conducted,” he said.

The event also marked Barrett’s Carnegie Hall debut, where he was delighted to have his own dressing room. He called the entire experience “surreal,” admitting he “geeked out,” and brought home a red hoodie and a conductor’s baton, both emblazoned with “Carnegie Hall.”

He’s already used the baton, saying: “It’s definitely legitimate. It’s a weighted baton — it’s balanced and everything.”

Spring concert

Since the chorale has presented “Illuminare” at home, the group’s solo pieces from the New York City event will be woven into the Spring Festival of Music performances Friday evening and Sunday afternoon at the Mount Mercy University Chapel of Mercy in Cedar Rapids.

“Another great piece that we’re going to do on this concert is a three-movement cantata by the African American composer Adolphus Hailstork, ‘I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes.’ It is a fantastic piece that the singers have loved preparing, but the audience will love it, too,” Barrett said. It’s written for piano and tenor solo, which will be sung by chorale member Joshua Morey.

Barrett is in his 21st season conducting the chorale, an auditioned group of professional and semiprofessional musicians, ranging in age from 17 to the 80s. The chorale performs three main stage concerts and a fundraising gala each season.

“We’re a community choir that prides itself with high-caliber repertoire and high-caliber performances, and then we work diligently to provide performances that can speak to all audiences,” Barrett said.

“Our singers take great pride in holding high expectations for both themselves and the people in the choir with them.”

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