Christopher Bell Celebrates 25 Years

He's been the Festival Chorus Director for 25 years, but if you ask Christopher Bell about a favorite memory with the Grant Park Chorus, he’ll quickly tell you it took place on Friday, July 16, 2004, Millennium Park’s inaugural opening night.

And what a night! Standing on the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion before 15,000 people spilling over the sides of the Great Lawn, Christopher Bell beamed at the Festival’s new home. Relishing the state-of-the-art sound system, the chorus performed selections by Verdi, Vaughan Williams and Copland to thunderous applause.

Over the years, he has auditioned thousands of singers who have hoped to be a part of this professional chorus. Each summer, they’ll sing six programs—five programs at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and one in the neighborhoods—with no more than six rehearsals per concert.

“Our singers must be the most versatile, delivering a wide range of sounds every summer, from full throated operatic through Broadway to the most sophisticated consort sound in our a cappella concerts,” said Bell. “Combine that with the Festival’s very eclectic repertoire and it’s a recipe for a really special summer of choral music.”

To celebrate his 25th season with the Festival, Christopher Bell will lead the orchestra and chorus on July 17 and 18, when he conducts one of the most cherished choral works in the world, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem. He pairs that with Scottish composer James MacMillan’s deeply sacred Cantos Sagrados, a work that Bell has conducted many times, including its world premiere for orchestra and chorus in 1998.

No season would be complete without Christopher Bell conducting the Festival’s annual Independence Day Salute. Audiences always look forward to the concert, but they’ve come to anticipate his signature outfits in red, white and blue, too. An Irishman who calls it a privilege to conduct this popular concert, Bell is proud to lead a program that includes patriotic favorites the Armed Forces Salute, Stars and Stripes Forever and more.

Another tradition that continues this year is the Grant Park Chorus’ a cappella concert. This year, as part of America 250, Bell will lead the chorus in an evening of American choral music, with music composed by Aaron Copland, Jake Runestad, Stephen Paulus, Jennifer Higdon and more.

“Every year, we put together a team of people who are vocally on their game,” Bell once told former Chicago Tribune classical music critic John von Rhein about the chorus. “They are capable of changing the way they sing to fit the stylistic requirements of the pieces we are doing.” It’s still true today.

In addition to Fauré’s Requiem and James MacMillan’s Cantos Sagrados, this summer Christopher Bell will be prepping the chorus to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s Conquest Requiem, along with Michael Daugherty’s monumental Mount Rushmore.

What a wonderful way to celebrate 25 years!