Chorale History
Today the Larimer Chorale is a regionally acclaimed, 110-voice auditioned adult ensemble that provides some of the finest live choral music in the state of Colorado. The Chorale was founded in 1977 by Elizabeth Elliott and others in the Fort Collins community who had a vision of a local choral group with professional abilities, comparable to choruses in major American cities. Under conductors Dick Penny and Hal Eastburn, all interested singers were welcome to participate and our first concerts were occasional and informal. With the arrival of conductor James Brink in 1979, the Chorale grew to 90 auditioned singers and increased the range of music performed. The current conductor/artistic director, Michael T. Krueger, joined the Chorale in 2004. Now at 110 auditioned singers, the Larimer Chorale is one of the most accomplished choral groups in Colorado. Our diverse repertoire includes works by the masters of classical choral music, including Bach, Mozart, Brahms, and Beethoven. But we also feel comfortable performing lighter music, such as pieces by Leonard Bernstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and other 19th- and 20th-century composers.
In the past 30 years, the Chorale has performed with numerous orchestras and choirs, including the Boulder Philharmonic, the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra, the Cheyenne Symphony, the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Wind Ensemble, the Cherry Creek Chorale, and the Pueblo Chorale. The Larimer Chorale has participated in Fort Collins' First Night Celebrations, the grand opening and anniversary celebrations of the Fort Collins Lincoln Center, the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra's Cranberry Pops Concert, and the St. Luke's Bach Festival. The Chorale has also invited the Centennial Children's Chorus, Choice City Singers, local high school choirs and chamber orchestras, and Colorado State University choirs to perform in concert with us. In 2009, the Chorale had the honor of joining the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra, the Cherry Creek Chorale, and the Colorado Children’s Chorus in Boulder for two performances of Gustav Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. This work is rarely performed because of its complexity and because of the large number of performers required. Mahler scholars and aficionados came from all over the world to hear these performances.
Our touring Chamber Choir has made six trips abroad, participating in music festivals and performing in historic cathedrals, performance halls, and churches in Western Europe and the British Isles. In 1998, the Choir sang for services at San Marco in Venice and at the Duomo in Florence, Italy. In July, 2001, the Choir was invited to sing in a Sunday Mass at Notre Dame de Paris and in a concert at the Madeleine during their tour of France. The Chamber Choir’s most recent trip, in 2010, included performances at the Saint Nicholas Church in the Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.
Four years ago, a small group of Chorale singers formed our Chamber Chorale. This group performs works intended for more intimate settings than the large auditoriums used by the full Chorale. Each fall, the Chamber Chorale appears as the Dickens Carolers of the Larimer Chorale. They provide entertainment at our annual Dickens Dinners fund-raisers and will are available for hire to perform in the community throughout the holiday season this year and in the future.
The 2011-2012 concert season is the Chorale’s 35th. To commemorate our anniversary, we have hired Dr. James McCray to create our first commissioned work. Dr. McCray is a retired member of the CSU music faculty and an internationally-known composer. We will debut his composition, entitled Rejoice, Ye Tenants of the Earth, at our December, 2011 holiday concerts.