Baltimore Choral Arts Society Inc

Causes: Arts & Culture, Music, Singing & Choral Groups

Mission: Choral Arts is a 100 voice, volunteer chorus with a professional core of 16 paid singers. Members of the Choral Arts Orchestra are members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO). BCAS is one of Maryland's premier cultural institutions, recognized nationally for innovation and artistic excellence. The group performs at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore and in venues throughout the state of Maryland. BCAS has appeared in the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and on Merkin Concert Hall's Jewish Heritage Series in New York City. BCAS also appears frequently on radio and television. Its performances are broadcast locally on WBJC and nationally on "The First Art" series. The ensemble's annual Christmas concert has been broadcast on WMAR TV, ABC2 every year since 1996, reaching viewing audiences of over 400,000 most years. Music Director Tom Hall, a highly regarded scholar and teacher, has appeared throughout the U.S. as a guest conductor, lecturer and consultant. Since Mr. Hall became music director in 1982, Choral Arts has presented a world or local premier of an American work almost every season. The most recent new commission was composer Libby Larsen's "Billy the Kid", a joint project in 1997 with the king'singers and the City of Birmingham Chorus. The most recent local premier was the March 24, 2001 performance of Dave Brubeck's "The Gates of Justice," which BCAS also recorded on March 25, 2001, for the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music.BCAS collaborates with both national and local performers and ensembles. BCAS has presented projects with dance companies, poets, visual artists, and youth and school choirs from across Maryland.