New Classic Singers | en

The New Classic Singers has been a resident choral ensemble at College of DuPage since 1982. Members include conductors, educators and soloists from throughout the metropolitan area. The choir has been lauded for its imaginative programs and performing excellence. New Classic Singers has performed three times for conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, and frequently commissions and premieres new works. The New Classic Singers has performed with Fulcrum Point New Music Project, the Kronos Quartet, the New Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, and has recorded new issues for Boosey & Hawkes music publishers.

The New Classic Singers is listed in the Illinois Arts Treasures on Tour, an outreach program of the Illinois Arts Council. We are working to bring our concerts to larger audiences and to other parts of the state.


The following notes on the history of the New Classic Singers were written by Lee R. Kesselman for the closing program of our 25th season, held in May 2007.

Lee Kesselman has been director of choral activities at College of DuPage since 1981. Conductor, pianist, teacher and award-winning composer, he has developed the New Classic Singers with a love for the vocal art and interests in a great breadth of literature. A member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Kesselman’s compositions have been published by Boosey & Hawkes, Lawson-Gould, Plymouth Music, Classic Artists Publishing and Kesselman Press.


When I interviewed for my faculty position at College of DuPage in summer of 1981, I was asked if I would be interested in founding a professional chorus at College of DuPage. The visionary leadership of the College — Hal McAninch (President), Richard Holgate (Director of Performing Arts), Dan Lindsey (Dean), and Jack Weiseman (Assistant Dean) — painted the picture of resident professional ensembles at the community college which would anchor the arts at the institution, alongside student and community ensembles. Their vision was too great to resist.

In December of 1982, New Classic Singers gave its first concert in Building M, with 23 singers. Since that time, NCS has brought exciting and innovative concerts of choral music to College of DuPage, the surrounding community and metropolitan Chicago. Through these 25 years, we have enjoyed the rich support of the College, the community, our talented singers, and YOU -- our loyal and enthusiastic audience.

We have had the privilege of hosting 17 composer residencies, of premiering and/or commissioning 13 works, and of collaborating with many wonderful soloists and ensembles, among them, NEXUS, Kronos Quartet, Chicago String Ensemble, and the Ars Viva Symphony. I have had the personal privilege of having NCS sing many of my original works and arrangements, of which 14 were first performances for those works. We have sung time-honored masterworks by the greatest composers of Western music, we have explored and promoted the works of our time, we have immersed ourselves in the musics of the Americas, and we have sung music from many of the vocal music traditions and languages of the world. We have sung of Love and of Hate, of Beauty and of Faith, and of War and of Peace. We have shared all of these experiences with our College of DuPage students and with this community. I think we have enriched the lives of this community, of our performers, and of the world of music in well over 100 different concerts of exceptional choral music.
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