The Eugene Concert Choir is a vibrant part of the cultural life of the Eugene-Springfield region. A resident company of the Hult Center for the Performing Arts since 1997, the Concert Choir is a symphonic masterworks chorus that brings the grand works of the great classical composers to the stage.

Highlights include the recent collaboration with the Eugene Ballet Company for the acclaimed, fully staged and choreographed performances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, as well as the Berlioz, Verdi, Brahms and Mozart Requiem masses, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and Vaughan Williams’ passionate cry for peace, Dona Nobis Pacem.

The Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble, the chamber choir associated with the Eugene Concert Choir, was founded by Artistic Director Diane Retallack in 1986. The “Lords and Ladies” of the Ensemble perform Renaissance music in authentic Elizabethan dress, and for ten years presented a popular English Madrigal Dinner. The Ensemble performs sophisticated chamber repertoire from Renaissance to Baroque, featuring madrigals, chansons and partsongs.

Both the Concert Choir and the Vocal Arts Ensemble step outside the traditional classical repertoire to bring a wide variety of eclectic styles to their audience, including ventures into opera, big bands, Native American influences and “Bohemian” classic rock, demonstrating their amazing versatility.

Together the choirs have released two recordings, “Holiday Joy” and “American Spirit”. Touring ensembles from the choirs performed as guests of the Frankfurter Kantorei in 2003, participating in a festival concert in the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Most recently, they performed the Mozart Requiem with Eric Whitacre in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China in June of 2006.

Educational outreach is very important to the organization, as evidenced by their “Singing a Masterwork” project, which involves hundreds of school children learning part of a major work and joining the choir, orchestra and soloists for a performance presentation in Silva Concert Hall.