The Milwaukee Choral Artists Welcomes Composer Ola Gjeilo for Its Grand Finale

Milwaukee, WI, March 30, 2013 --(PR.com)-- The Milwaukee Choral Artists will present its final concert on Saturday, April 13, 2013 at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 1615 Wauwatosa Avenue, Wauwatosa. This concert will feature the world premiere of “Desert Sky” composed by Norwegian-born composer and pianist Ola Gjeilo, and commissioned by the Milwaukee Choral Artists. It is scored for women’s vocal ensemble, string quartet, and improvisational piano accompaniment. Ola Gjeilo will be in Milwaukee to perform this world premiere. Tickets for this concert are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, and $15 for students and may be obtained by via www.milwaukeechoralartists.org or purchased on the day of the performance.

The April 13th program will feature many of Gjeilo’s other compositions. Ola Gjeilo is highly sought after in the choral world, and his published concert works are performed all over the world. Also known as a celebrated jazz pianist, Gjeilo’s debut recording as a pianist-composer, the lyrical crossover album Stone Rose, was released to critical acclaim in 2007. The Grammy award-winning Phoenix Chorale has recorded a CD of his choral music, just released in 2012. While in Milwaukee, Gjeilo and Sharon Hansen will work with choral students from Muskego High School.

The Milwaukee Choral Artists, under the direction of Dr. Sharon A. Hansen, is one of only a handful of female professional vocal ensembles in the United States, and has from its beginning been on the forefront of championing new music and premieres for women’s voices, and forging understandings between peoples through its commitment to music of diverse cultures.

About The Milwaukee Choral Artists
Now in its fifteenth and final season, the Milwaukee Choral Artists is Wisconsin's premiere professional choral ensemble, and one of only a handful of professional women’s vocal ensembles in the country. With its signature lush sound, MCA brings a distinctive repertory of choral and vocal masterworks—including well-known pieces, new music, seldom-performed works, and music of diverse cultures and historical periods—to concert audiences throughout the region. Founded in 1998 as a chamber ensemble comprised of professional solo singers, MCA occupies a distinctive position of excellence in the city, state, and region. Regularly hailed for its imaginative programming, the group has firmly established itself in the mainstream of professional music making both within and beyond Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee Choral Artists enjoys regular appearances with Present Music, Milwaukee’s internationally acclaimed contemporary music ensemble. Equally well versed in early music, the Milwaukee Choral Artists has also collaborated with Early Music Now, performing twice with internationally acclaimed The Boston Camerata, as well as joining professional female vocal ensemble KITKA in a special concert. MCA has also performed as part of the Fine Arts Concert Series at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist (Milwaukee) and St. James Cathedral (Chicago); at the National Convention of Catholic Cathedral Musicians; at the National Convention of Lutheran Church Musicians; and in state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors’ Association. Their Tenth Anniversary commercial CD, Sky-Born Music, features commissioned works composed specifically for the Milwaukee Choral Artists in celebration of its distinguished history.

The Milwaukee Choral Artists performs three regular season concerts each year at historic venues throughout the Milwaukee area. Committed to presenting music from diverse cultures and time periods, since its inception the ensemble has presented some seventy-seven public performances, and sung more than 900 pieces in twenty-nine languages from more than forty world cultures.