Blackhawk Chorus wins plaudits for Lincoln Center performance

On March 21, 2010, 63 members of the Blackhawk Chorus performed at the Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York in a concert entitled "From Sea to Shining Sea". The venue, which serves as home to the New York Philharmonic and which has been host to luminaries such as Leonard Bernstein and Kurt Masur, served as a spectacular backdrop to a memorable musical experience which was treasured by all involved.

In keeping with the program's theme - music by American composers, performed by choirs and musicians from across the United States - Blackhawk Chorus Director and Founder, Diane Gilfether. selected "Ellingtonia" as the Blackhawk group's set piece. Showcasing the songs of Duke Ellington in a medley featuring such familiar tunes as "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)". "Mood Indigo", and "Don't Get Around Much Any More", the music played perfectly to the Chorus' strong suit in delivering imaginative renditions of popular jazz standards. The performance marked the culmination of weeks of rehearsals spent mastering a piece that includes a number of key and tempo changes, plus complex, subtle and often unintuitive 6-part harmonies. Choreography, introduced somewhat trepidatiously in the final few practices, provided an added flourish. The piece was executed flawlessly, and it was warmly received by the audience and by the concert organizers with a standing ovation!

Later, the Blackhawk group joined with the other massed choirs - including contingents from Los Angeles, Wisconsin and New Jersey - under the direction of Guest Conductor Albert McNeil, to deliver two soaring and joyful choral songs by Aaron Copland: "Simple Gifts" and "Zion Walls". The program ended with a rousing, fast-paced rendition of the African-American spiritual, "Walk Together Children", featuring the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers.