Coro Allegro: Highlights from Over 30 Years

1991

  • David Cutler founds Ars Nova, a classical chorus for gays, lesbians, and their friends.
    • Thomas Kim, Conductor
    • Karen Harvey, Accompanist

1992

  • Ars Nova becomes Coro Allegro, Boston’s classical chorus for members & friends of the LGB community.
    • Jane Ring Frank, Conductor
  • September
    • David Hodgkins becomes Artistic Director.
  • November
    • First concert with Kristina Nilsson, concertmaster
    • First concert at the Church of the Covenant

1993

  • June
    • Coro Allegro sings at our first Boston Pride Interfaith Service.
  • September
    • Darryl Hollister becomes Accompanist.

1994

  • Boston premiere: Salmo 51 by Marianne Martines

1995

  • World premiere: In the Clearing by Kenneth Fuchs
    • Coro Allegro’s first commission

1996

  • May
    • World premiere: Daniel Pinkham, The White Raven
      • Commissioned by Coro Allegro
  • July
    • Coro Allegro attends GALA Chorus Festival V, Tampa
  • November
    • Boston premiere: Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum

1997

  • February
    • World premiere: Requiem by Ruth Lomon
  • March
    • VOICES of FREEDOM with NE GALA choruses
    • Coro Allegro’s first commercial CD In the Clearing is released.
  • December
    • First Night, Boston in Trinity Church

1998

  • March
    • Collaboration: Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra
  • November
    • The Voice of the Tenth Muse by Patricia Van Ness
      • World premiere, commission, Artist in Residency

1999

  • And They Lynched Him on a Tree by William Grant Still
    • Boston premiere, with the New Haven Heritage Chorale

2000

  • July
    • GALA Choruses Festival VI in San Jose, CA
  • October
    • Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Symphony Hall
      • Christopher Hogwood conducts Handel & Haydn, Coro Allegro, and Boston Cecilia.

2001

  • Coro Allegro affirms Transgender inclusion (LGBT).
  • May
    • World premiere: Casey: Play Ball! by Robert Kapilow
      • Boston Celebrity Series, with Boston Musica Viva in the Cyclorama

2001-2002 Season

  • Coro Allegro celebrates our 10th Anniversary.

2002

  • Spring
    • Commercial CD release: somewhere i have never traveled
  • November
    • Boston premiere: James MacMillan’s Cantos Sagrados

2003

  • March
    • Collaboration: Coro Allegro & Boston Cecilia
      • Donald Teeters conducting Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, Jordan Hall
  • April
    • Collaboration: Boston Landmarks Ensemble
  • May
    • World premiere: Infinite Fraternity by Charles Fussell
      • Commissioned by Coro Allegro
  • November
    • American premiere of 3 songs by Rebecca Clarke

2004

  • February
    • MacMillan’s Cantos Sagrados at Eastern ACDA
  • March
    • Collaboration: Coro Allegro & Boston Cecilia
      • David Hodgkins conducting 20th-century masters, Jordan Hall
  • May
    • Collaboration: Horace Clarence Boyer, Boston City Singers
  • July
    • GALA Festival VII in Montreal
  • October
    • World premiere: Requiem by Patricia Van Ness
      • Commissioned by Coro Allegro

2006

  • May
    • World Premiere: Joseph Fear, St. Francis Prayer for Peace
    • World Premiere: Joseph Marcello, Three spirituals
  • November
    • World premiere: Shofar by Robert Stern
  • December
    • A Tribute to Congressman Gerry E. Studds

2008

  • February
    • Coro Allegro establishes the Daniel Pinkham Award.
    • First Pinkham Award recipient: Sanford Sylvan
  • July
    • GALA Festival VIII in Miami

2009

  • 2nd Daniel Pinkham Award to Bishop Gene Robinson

2010

  • 3rd Daniel Pinkham Award to Fenwick Smith

2011

  • March
    • 4th Daniel Pinkham Award to Patricia Van Ness
  • May
    • World premiere: The Son of Man! by Kareem Roustom
      • Collaboration with United Parish Chancel Choir, Susan DeSelms, Director

2012

  • March
    • 5th Daniel Pinkham Award to Donald Teeters
  • May
    • Coro Allegro wins the Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award
  • July
    • GALA IX Festival in Denver
    • Coro Allegro’s first two albums on the Navona label are released:
      • In Paradisum, Requiem and Voice of the Tenth Muse by Patricia Van Ness;
      • Awakenings: Why I Wake Early by Ronald Perera; Shofar by Robert Stern.

2013

  • March
    • Coro Allegro in Veterans for Peace St. Patrick’s Peace Parade
  • April
    • Boston premiere: Last Letter Home by Lee Hoiby
    • Coro Allegro & area choruses: “A Song for Peace,” Trinity Church
      • After the Boston Marathon bombings
  • June
    • Coro celebrates 20 Years with David Hodgkins.
    • World Premiere: The Orchard: Songs of Fruit and Love by Greg Bullen
    • Presentation of the 6th Daniel Pinkham Award to David Hodgkins

2014

  • June
    • Collaboration: La Donna Musicale and RUMBARROCO
    • Presentation of the 7th Daniel Pinkham Award to Laury Gutiérrez
  • July
    • Whitbourn’s Annelies with Chorus Pro Musica, Massachusetts ACDA
  • November
    • Songs for a Waxing Moon by Alexander deVaron
      • World premiere at Jordon Hall
    • 8th Daniel Pinkham Award to Lorna Cooke deVaron

2015

  • June
    • Te Deum by Arvo Pärt at Chorus America Conference
  • October
    • Terezin Music Festival GALA in Boston Symphony Hall
      • 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Nazi Camps
      • World premiere: Pablo Ortiz, Leaving Limerick, text by Richard Blanco
      • Commissioned for Coro Allegro by the Terezin Music Foundation
  • November
    • A Concert for Marriage Equality

2016

  • March
    • World premiere: Howard Frazin’s The Voice of Isaac
      • Expanded version, with Boston City Singers & Toronto Children’s Chorus
  • May
    • Aluta Continua: The passion of David Kato Kisule by Eric Banks
      • World premiere/commissioned by Coro Allegro tenor Tom Regan;
    • Benefit for LGBTI refugees in Kenya w/Spectrum Uganda/Refuge Point
    • Presentation of the 9th Daniel Pinkham Award to Janson Wu
  • July
    • GALA X Festival in Denver
  • November
    • Kristina Nilsson, concertmaster, solo performance
      • In recognition of 25 years of contributions by orchestral musicians
  • December
    • World AIDS Day Service Church of the Covenant
      • Benefit performance of the Fauré Requiem for the Boston Living Center

2017

  • March
    • Caprice for Piano & Orchestra by Fred Onovwerosuoke
      • World premiere commissioned in honor of Darryl Hollister
    • 10th Daniel Pinkham Award to Catherine Peterson
  • May
    • Alleluia! A Celebration of 25 Years
      • World premiere commissions: To be nobody by Peter Eldridge; Psalm 116 (Alleluia) by Patricia Van Ness.
  • September
    • Coro Allegro becomes Boston's LGBTQ+ and allied classical chorus, affirming  inclusion of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions.
    • In celebration and to launch our next quarter century, we present a new logo.
  • November
    • David Hodgkins' 25th Season as Artistic Director kicks off with a performance of Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor, K. 427 

2018

  • March
    • World premiere:  Rage Against the tyrant(s) by Kareem Roustom
      • Commissioned by Coro Allegro members T. Jefferson Kline, Julie Anderson, and Tom Regan
    • World premiere of expanded version of Shawn Kirchner's Songs of Ascent
    • 11th Daniel Pinkham Award to Robin Godfrey

2019

  • March
    • Collaboration:  The Heritage Chorale of New Haven
    • World premiere, A Triptych of American Composers: A Cantata of the People by Fred Onovwerosuoke
      • Commissioned by Coro Allegro tenor Willis Emmons and his husband Zach Durant-Emmons
    • 12th Daniel Pinkham Award to Darryl Hollister.
  • June
    • Coro Allegro named recipient of the 2019 Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.
  • July
    • Collaboration:  The Boston Landmarks Orchestra and the One City Choir
  • November
    • Boston Premieres: 
      • What Do You Think I Fought for at Omaha Beach by Melissa Dunphy
      • Lullaby by Shawn Crouch
      • The New Colossos by David Ludwig

2020

  • March: 
    • Coro Allegro's concert Shofar: In Memoriam is the first non student performance cancelled in Boston due to the COVID-19 pandemic.​​​​​​ 
    • Coro Allegro launches SNACK weekly experiments in music making and community gathering on Zoom
  • September:
    • Coro Allegro launches Coro Academy with online Solfege, Music Theory and Harmony, and Vocal Masterclasses courses
    • Collaboration:  The Kodály Institute of Boston
  • November:
    • Collaboration: Terezín Music Foundation for their 2020 GALA: “I’m Thinking of When We Will Meet Again”
    • Coro creates our first virtual choirs with the Boston Community Gospel Choir and the Brookline High Camerata
    • World premiere: "I'll Be Seeing You" by Peter Eldridge
      • Commissioned for Coro Allegro by the Terezín Music Foundation

2021

  • March: 
    • Premiere: Amplifying Black Voices, a new digital series 
    • Episode 1:  "America, We Need to Talk" featuring Composer Fred Onovwerosuoke 
      • Guests: Artist Adelia Parker-Castro reading the poetry of Michael Castro, Tai Oney, countertenor, Jonas Budris, tenor, Christopher Wilkins, Music Director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Willis Emmons and Zach Durant-Emmons, commissioners, hosted by Artistic Director David Hodgkins and Executive Director Yoshi Campbell 
  • April: 
    • Premiere:  Amplifying Black Voices 2:  "A Conversation Still Needed: William Grant Still, Lynching and Black Lives" featuring Jonathan Q. Berryman of the Heritage Chorale of New Haven
      • Collaboration:  The Heritage Chorale of New Haven
        • Guests: Marietta Simpson, mezzo soprano & Distinguished Rudy Professor of Music, Indiana University, Judith Anne Still, archivist and advocate for her father's music, hosted by Artistic Director David Hodgkins and Executive Director Yoshi Campbell  
  • June
    • Premiere:  "Devotion: A Celebration of GALA Choruses"
    • Guests:
      • For GALA Choruses: Robin Godfrey, Jane Ramseyer Miller, Michael Tate 
      • Composers Kenneth Fuchs and Eric Banks,
      • Craig Coogan, ED Boston Gay Men's Chorus,
      • Janson Wu, ED of GLAD (GLBTQ+ Legal Advocates and Defenders)
      • Reginald L. Mobley, countertenor and advocate for arts equity,
        • John Abdallah “LongJones” Wambere, founder of AmeriGanda, International,
        • Sam Brinton, VP of The Trevor Project
        • Coro Allegro singers, alumni, commissioners, and presidents
        • Hosted by Coro AD David Hodgkins & ED Yoshi Campbell
    • 13th Annual Pinkham Award to the GALA Choruses Staff and Board
  • September:
    • Coro Allegro and Devotion featured in a Chorus America article on the resilience of GALA Choruses by Yoshi Campbell
  • October
    • Collaboration: Terezín Music Foundation 2021 Virtual and Live GALA;
    • Coro Allegro performs works by Sivan Eldar and Viktor Ullmann in Symphony Hall, our first live performance since the pandemic
  • November
    • Coro Allegro presents its first live concert since the pandemic, dedicated to front-line workers

2022

  • Spring:
    • More Covid cancellations
    • Coro Allegro launches the Letters Project with community partners inspired by a newly commissioned work by Andrea Clearfield
  • August: Collaboration: Boston Landmarks Orchestra and One City Chorus
    • World Premiere:  Many Mansions by Dr. Diane White Clayton
      • Commissioned by the Landmarks Orchestra for Coro Allegro
  • October:
    • Collaboration:  The Terezín Music Foundation
    • World Premiere: Sketch for Terezin/Does Grace by Jeremiah Klarman
      • Commissioned by the Terezín Music Foundation for Coro Allegro
  • November:
    • World Premiere: HERE I AM: I AM HERE by Andrea Clearfield
      • Commissioned by Alison Howe, Virginia Fitzgerald, Leah Smith, Robin Godfrey for Coro Allegro
    • 14th Annual Pinkham Award to Sam Brinton