CBA Ode to Joy

THE BEGINNINGS AND EVOLUTION OF THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION CHORUS

As the CBA Chorus joins the CBA Symphony Orchestra to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony “Ode to Joy,” veteran singers are reminded of the Chorus’s inaugural performance of the very same piece at Navy Pier in 2006. Maestro David Katz selected the Ninth Symphony in honor of the Orchestra’s 20th anniversary season. Ninety-one choristers participated in that first concert which has led to thirteen years of rewarding singing, conducted for ten years by Rebecca Patterson, one transitional year with three conductor candidates, and under the baton of current director, Stephen Blackwelder, for the past two seasons. While the Chorus typically performs three to four concerts each season from September to June, in recent years the Chorus has engaged in more community outreach, singing holiday carols at hospitals and nursing homes in December and singing upon request at memorial services. Mark Burkland recalls it all began in 2005 when CBASO member John Vishneski invited Patterson, choir director at the church Mark and John both attended in Oak Park, to interview with Maestro Katz to create a chorus for the CBASO’s anniversary concert. (“Becky was hands down the best choice,” Katz remembers.) Patterson asked Mark, a bass in her choir and also an attorney, to help her recruit choristers. Their efforts resulted in a multi-talented group, mostly lawyers or those in a law-related field, who joined the CBASO to perform the “Ode to Joy.” Soon after the concert, Becky and Mark met over lunch in October 2006 and decided to try to keep the Chorus together, hoping they could entice enough of the concert singers to stay involved. They calculated costs, considered rehearsal venues, talked to CBA Executive Director Terrence Murphy, and tended to the myriad other elements of creating the CBA Chorus. Mark explained that they conceived the Chorus as: ”…an ‘everyone is welcome’ opportunity for CBA members—the chance for anyone to have fun singing. We envisioned a broad range of pieces to sing—a lot of sacred music of course, but also lots of secular favorites of many genres. We both thought from the beginning it would be ok (and better) if the Chorus was not restricted to CBA members. This was a touchy issue at the time, but some of the anniversary concert singers were not CBA members and we didn’t want to lock them out. We needed their voices!” Terry Kennedy, bass, joined the Chorus when it first started because: “…singing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” seemed like a fun challenge. I heard about it from my neighbor whose son, Carlin Metzger, was (and still is) a violinist in the CBASO. I continued singing with the Chorus in large part because Becky Patterson was such a great director.” He experienced a crisis of confidence in the second season prior to the group’s performance of Faure’s Requiem after a poor dress rehearsal made him question whether he was a good enough singer to be part of this group. Maestro David Katz’s excellent direction at the actual performance pulled the best from the ensembles and restored Terry’s faith in both himself and the Chorus. He also singled out the performances of Carmina Burana at Symphony Center and the Brahms German Requiem as standouts. He was particularly moved by the German Requiem , perhaps because it was the final performance Becky would prepare as chorus director.

Among the benefits he has gained from participating in the Chorus, Terry mentions that the challenge of learning and performing the music provides much-needed stress relief from running his law practice. He says

58 ODE TO JOY