Arts Agenda: Choral and vocal music

Each week, ArtsATL delivers a critic’s short list of the shows, exhibitions, concerts and events we recommend for the coming weeks within one area in the kaleidoscope of Atlanta arts and culture.

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March 20

Kennesaw State University Choirs will perform at 8 p.m. on March 20 at the Bailey Performance Center’s Morgan Concert Hall.

March 21

We Shake, We Shine! is the Atlanta Women’s Chorus’ celebration of the legacy of the women’s suffrage movement and the ongoing fight for justice and equality. Performances are at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on March 21 at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church.

March 22

The Michael O’Neal Singers will offer two musical interpretations of the biblical creation story. Franz Josef Haydn wrote The Creation in 1798, and it has become the definitive choral/orchestral work on that topic. Dan Forrest, inspired by Haydn’s oratorio, wrote his own Creation in 2024. This performance at 3 p.m. on March 22 at Roswell United Methodist Church will present musical highlights from both scores and will feature the MOS Chorus, vocal soloists and orchestra.

March 25

Kennesaw State University’s voice faculty presents A British Tapestry: Echoes from the Moors and Meadows, offering a program of British art songs by Britten, Gurney, Vaughan Williams and Finzi. It happens at 7:30 p.m. on March 25 at the Bailey Performance Center’s Morgan Concert Hall.

March 27-28

Experience Harmonia Atlanta’s Force of Destiny at 7:30 p.m. on March 27 at Innovation Academy in Alpharetta with the Alpharetta Symphony. The program includes John Rutter’s Requiem, Antonín Dvořák’s Te Deum and Verdi’s Overture to La Forza del Destino. They’ll also perform Te Deum and Rutter’s Requiem at Tucker First United Methodist Church at 7:30 p.m. on March 28.

April 10

Grammy Award-winning American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges joins with the Catalyst Quartet and pianist Spencer Myer for a program anchored in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Fantasiestücke, op. 5. It’s part of the Candler Concert Series at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts and happens on April 10.

April 11

Panache in Concert offers an ensemble of Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus members performing in an intimate atmosphere at Out Front Theatre. Shows are at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on April 11.

April 10 and 12

Kennesaw State University Opera Theater and the Department of Dance will perform Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at 8 p.m. April 10 and 3 p.m. April 12 at the Bailey Performance Center’s Morgan Concert Hall.

April 17-19

Trumpets, timpani and voices rise together in this dazzling celebration of joy, light and spiritual transformation in J.S. Bach’s Ascension Oratorio. The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra will be joined by Thomas Cooley, tenor, and the Glenn Memorial UMC Chancel Choir under the direction of Michael Dauterman for three performances: 7:30 p.m. April 17 at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church; 3 p.m. April 18 at Lassiter Concert Hall; and 4 p.m. April 19 at Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Savannah.

April 18-19

Georgia State University Opera & Symphony Orchestra will perform Hansel and Gretel, Engelbert Humperdinck’s timeless opera based on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale, at 7 p.m. April 18 and 3 p.m. April 19 at the Rialto Center for the Arts.

April 19

The Choral Guild of Atlanta’s season concludes on April 19 with Of Sea, Sky and Stars, a program featuring treasured classics, contemporary gems and a tribute to America’s 250th anniversary. The performance happens at Peachtree Presbyterian Church.

April 26

The Georgia Boy Choir International Festival returns to Atlanta Symphony Hall at 4 p.m. on April 26 with the famous Finnish choir, Cantores Minores, joining the Georgia Boy Choir on stage at Atlanta Symphony Hall to perform Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky and Herbert Howells’ Te Deum (Collegium Regale), accompanied by a full orchestra. 

May 1-2

Atlanta Master Chorale presents Early Genius: Youthful Works of Handel, Mozart and Mendelssohn at 8 p.m. on May 1 and May 2 at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.

May 2-3

Coro Vocati’s Dirt Roads and Footpaths takes inspiration from both South Georgia dirt roads and the footpaths of England’s Lake District and includes John Corigliano’s setting of Dylan Thomas’ Fern Hill. Performances are at 7 p.m. on May 2 at Holy Innocents Episcopal Church and 3 p.m. on May 3 at St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church

May 9

Voices of Note presents a day of performances, discussions and more at Pride & Purpose: Celebrating Women, Minority, & LGBTQIA Communities from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. on May 9 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta.

June 6

Voices of Note presents the Atlanta Women’s Chorus performing Chosen Family — celebrating friends, mentors and allies who stand together in solidarity and love — at 2 and 4 p.m. on June 6 at Church at Ponce & Highland.

June 13

Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, featuring the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus and Yacht Rock Schooner, spotlights the music of Sir Elton John at 7 p.m. on June 13 at the Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre.