News and Updates from 2019

December 7, 2019. Review of Handel’s Messiah under the direction of George Manahan.  "The Richmond Symphony Chorus, prepared by Erin Freeman, was in especially fine form, both in vocal technique and character. The massed voices rang out satisfyingly in big choruses such as “And the Glory of the Lord,” “Hallelujah!” and “Worthy is the Lamb,” but the ensemble was at least as impressive in well-defined part-singing in less showy numbers and in a cappella passages." – Clarke Bustard, LetterV Blog

October 1, 2019. Review of Carmina Burana with the Richmond Symphony and Richmond Ballet. "With the Richmond Symphony and 100-some singers from the Symphony Chorus and VCU Commonwealth Singers lining the venues main level's side walls and balcony, creating a monstrously inviting surround-sound impact, the 160 or so joined Richmond's 16 dancers to offer a smashing and sensual 'Carmina.'” – John Shulson, Virginia Gazette

August 2019. Reference Recordings releases its latest project - a recording of Mason Bates' Children of Adam and Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, featuring the Richmond Symphony Chorus. Nominated for a Grammy for recording engineering.
​Listen to excerpts here!

June 2019. Members of the Richmond Symphony Chorus perform Mozart's Coronation Mass at La Madeleine in Paris. They joined with the Orchestre Symphonique Bel’Arte and singers from Florida to Paris. Watch the performance here!
May 19, 2019. Review of the chorus’s performance of Carmen with Denyse Graves. "The Richmond Symphony Chorus was very much a co-star in this show, bringing lusty collective tone and genuine characterization to their crowd-scene roles. The women were gloriously riotous as the cigarette-factory girls relating the (unseen) Act 1 fight scene between Carmen and her co-worker Manuelita. ... The late James Erb, founder of the Symphony Chorus, once told me that he often sought more “operatic,” or dramatically infused, character and projection from the ensemble. He would have been gratified to hear this performance, prepared by his successor, Erin Freeman." – Clarke Bustard, LetterV.Blog

April 14, 2019. The Richmond Symphony Chorus performs the world premiere of Reena Esmail’s She Will Transform You. "The Richmond Symphony Chorus and UR’s two student chamber choruses, the Schola Cantorum and Women’s Chorale, produced a strikingly effective floating quality as they sang over an orchestration of shimmering tone colors." –  Clarke Bustard, LetterV.Blog