Here’s a preview of our upcoming 2025-2026 Season. We look forward to a shared journey of the transformative power of music with our audiences.
“From Darkness to Light, From Memory to Radiance”
In the 2025–2026 season, the Connecticut Choral Society, in collaboration with Orchestra Nexus and the Nexus Choral Artists, presents a series of profound musical offerings that move through mourning and remembrance, spiritual searching, and visionary light. These programs draw on sacred masterworks, luminous 20th-century repertoire, and seasonal reflections to guide audiences on a journey through the spectrum of human emotion—from grief to grace, from silence to song.
At the heart of the season lies a powerful narrative arc: one that begins in solemn remembrance and gradually ascends toward luminous transcendence. From the meditative depths of Brahms and Barber to the radiant affirmations of Vaughan Williams and Poulenc, these concerts explore the full register of human emotion and spiritual striving. The journey is both personal and collective—an exploration of loss, love, and ultimately, light.
This season reflects our core belief in the power of choral music as a vessel for healing, transformation, and connection. In a world marked by fracture and fatigue, we offer music as sanctuary—a place where sorrow can be held tenderly, where hope can take root, and where beauty becomes a bridge between hearts.
Our collaboration with gifted soloists, visionary conductors, and a chorus of devoted voices is more than artistic partnership—it is a living testimony to the unity that music can forge. Each note, each breath, each phrase serves as an invocation: to remember what has been lost, to cherish what endures, and to awaken what is possible.
With a steadfast belief in the power of choral music to heal, uplift, and unite, this season honors both the weight of memory and the hope of what is yet to come.
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Season Concerts & Repertoire Highlights
September 7 & 11, 2025
Ein Deutsches Requiem
Barber – Agnus Dei
Brahms – Ein deutsches Requiem
The season opens with Barber’s haunting Agnus Dei, a choral setting of his famous Adagio for Strings—a modern American elegy imbued with deep spiritual yearning. This is followed by Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem, a towering work of consolation and humanist theology. Rather than invoking judgment, Brahms offers solace, compassion, and profound beauty to the living—a musical embrace for a weary world.
November 2, 2025
Toward the Unknown Region
Duruflé – Ubi Caritas
Duruflé – Requiem, Op. 9
Vaughan Williams – Toward the Unknown Region
This All Souls’ season program is a meditation on eternity, legacy, and the mystery beyond. Duruflé’s Requiem blends Gregorian plainchant with lush French harmonies, creating a timeless, tranquil landscape of remembrance. Vaughan Williams’ stirring Toward the Unknown Region sets Walt Whitman’s poetry in a thrilling choral statement of courage, exploration, and transcendence—an anthem for those venturing into the unknown.
December 7, 2025
Evensong
Jennifer Sisco, conductor | Ethan Haman, organist
An intimate program of sacred choral music reflecting the tradition of evening worship. With serene liturgical works and timeless seasonal selections, this contemplative concert offers stillness, peace, and illumination in the darkest month of the year. A musical sanctuary for the soul.
January 10 & 11, 2026
Twelfth Night Yule Concert
Chamber Singers of CCS & Nexus Choral Artists
The Three Wise Men – Nicholas Simpson, Brad Barron, Ned Hanlon (TBC)
Valley Bell Ensemble (TBC)
Max Vladimiroff, conductor | Foster Evans Reese, producer
A festive and theatrical celebration that closes the holiday season in splendor. This Twelfth Night event fuses storytelling, carols, and ancient seasonal traditions. With guest soloists, bell ensemble, and dramatic narration, it becomes a radiant finale to the yuletide and a joyous greeting to the New Year.
CHAMBER SINGERS
of the Connecticut Choral Society
Nexus Choral Artists
The Three Wiseman
Nicholas Simpson, Brad Barron, and Ned Hanlon (TBC)
Vocal Ensemble – Prosecco (TBC)
Valley Bell Ensemble (TBC)
Max Vladimiroff, conductor
Foster Evans Reese, producer
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Messiah Sing – Parts II & III
The Messiah Sing-Along, in partnership with the Valley Music Series, offers a unique and interactive musical experience. Unlike a traditional concert, where the audience is passive, this event invites attendees to actively participate by singing along with the famous oratorio Messiah by George Frideric Handel. Under the leadership of Artistic Director, Eric Dale Knapp, accompanied by organist Linda Sweetman-Waters and a cast of professional soloists, the audience joins in the chorus. The Connecticut Choral Society and Nexus Choral Artists serve as the host choir, helping to create a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere for all participants.
April 19, 2026 – 3:00 PM
Gloria!
Poulenc – Concerto pour orgue, FP 93
Poulenc – Gloria, FP 177
The season culminates in a blaze of French brilliance. Poulenc’s Organ Concerto crackles with drama, wit, and spiritual tension, drawing on both Baroque influence and 20th-century color. His Gloria is radiant and daring—by turns exuberant, tender, and irreverently devout. With soaring soprano solos and lush choral textures, it is one of the most beloved sacred works of the modern era. Together, these pieces form a jubilant affirmation of faith, joy, and artistic courage.
Season Themes & Artistic Vision
Across this season, the Connecticut Choral Society affirms its commitment to presenting music with emotional depth, historical resonance, and contemporary relevance. From Brahms’ deeply personal requiem to Poulenc’s celestial Gloria, from Vaughan Williams’ metaphysical ambition to Duruflé’s prayerful serenity, these works call us to remember, to listen, and to dream anew.
We sing to remember the past.
We sing to illuminate the present.
We sing to shape a hopeful future.
We invite you to join us on this extraordinary journey.
Programs and artists are subject to change.