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The Kirkland Choral Society (= KCS) was founded in 1988 by the group’s first director, Jerry Mader, who presented the idea of an Eastside community choir to Jeffrey Waters, then president of the Creative Arts League (now the Kirkland Arts Center). The two men both composed and arranged original scores for the group, including a choral version of Pachebel’s Canon.
When Glenn R. Gregg started with the group in 1999, there was still only 15 volunteer singers. Since auditions were not required, it was easy for vocalists to join the group. He wanted to do the great choral works and he wanted to have it be an auditioned group and raise the bar. Under his direction, the KCS found a more classical focus, performing great works such as W.A. Mozart’s Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G and L.v. Beethoven’s Hallelujah with a full orchestra. Though the chorus has performed at smaller venues like the Kirkland Performance Center, one of the challenges KCS faces with its growing size is finding larger venues to perform works with the orchestra. KCS does many of its performances now at the Bastyr University Chapel and Northshore Performing Arts Center.
With over 100 auditioned singers, KCS is today one of the premier symphonic choral groups in the Puget Sound region. The Choral Society’s repertoire emphasizes the great masterworks for chorus and orchestra and includes a wide variety of fine repertoire, including music by the leading composers of our day.
Recently, KCS has commissioned and performed the world premiere of significant new works by Kirke Mechem, Ola Gjeilo, Carol Barnett, Donald Skirvin and John Muehleisen. For the past seven seasons, KCS has maintained a partnership with one of Seattle’s finest chamber orchestras, Philharmonia Northwest, regularly performing the great works for chorus and orchestra at Benaroya Hall.
The Choral Society also includes a Chamber Singers ensemble drawn from the larger chorus, performing unaccompanied choral repertoire, and music suited to smaller ensembles and venues. |
