The Moses Hogan Chorale

The Moses Hogan Chorale

THE MOSES HOGAN CHORALE, now embarking upon its final touring and performing season in 1998- 99, is a community choir that has built a reputation for musical excellence that reaches around the world. From its home base in New Orleans, Louisiana, the ensemble's rise to the upper echelon of choral organizations was attested when the Chorale was one of only two choirs from the United States invited to perform at the 1996 World Choral Symposium in Sydney, Australia. In the ten-year history of this event, the Chorale is also the only African-American choir to receive such an invitation. Moses Hogan began exploring the choral music idiom in 1980 with the organization of the New World Ensemble. This organization evolved into the present Moses Hogan Chorale in 1993. Shortly thereafter, the group came to the notice of the American Choral Directors Association, which extended invitations to perform at its conventions on both the regional and the national levels, and these appearances in turn led to invitations from around the world. The Chorale made its national radio debut when it was invited to Minnesota as featured guest on American Public Radio's St. Paul Sunday Morning with noted countertenor Derek Lee Ragin, which aired in May 1996. More recently, the choir was heard throughout Canada when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired the April 1998 performance at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. The Chorale's members range in age from nineteen to sixty-nine, and represent a diversity of backgrounds and occupations. The Chorale has lent its talents to many civic and charitable causes in and around New Orleans and has performed to critical acclaim and thunderous ovations in the finest and most prestigious concen halls at home and abroad. With its unique style and versatility, the choir has electrified audiences at the Morton H Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas, Washington, D.C.'s john E Kennedy Center for the Performing Artr and D.A.R Constitution Hall, and Australia's world-famous Sydney Opera House - to name but a few of the distinguished venues in which it has performed. In addition, the Chorale has sung in numerous churches of various denominations, as well as in synagogues, and at educational institutions across the country. While preserving and celebrating a unique African-American musical heritage, the Chorale has also transcended racial and ethnic boundaries through collaborations with choirs from various cultural traditions, seeking thereby to foster greater understanding among people from diverse backgrounds.