The Seattle Choral Company has become one of the most accomplished and respected choral organizations in the Seattle area, providing diverse music experiences that build and enrich the city. It was led by Freddie Coleman, founder and Artistic Director of the Seattle Choral Company and is an artist-in-residence at Seattle’s Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral. SCC has become more and more influential through its accomplished recordings and performances, valued partnership with other performing arts organizations such as Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and its excellent advocate for contemporary choral music.
Founded in 1982 by Artistic Director Freddie Coleman, the Seattle Choral Company has, over the course of 40 years, become one of Seattle’s most accomplished and respected choral organizations. Maestro Coleman’s finely-tuned yet spirited interpretations of the masterworks of classical choral music have been acclaimed by critics and audiences, including Berlioz’ Te Deum, Prokofieff’s Alexander Nevsky, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s C Minor Mass, Bach’s St. John Passion, and many more. After a recent performance at Benaroya Hall featuring Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, The Gathering Note wrote that the performance “was anchored by deep emotions, a strong sense of purpose, and an excellent advocate in Freddie Coleman and the Seattle Choral Company.”
The Seattle Choral Company has toured to Australia and the former Soviet Union. (Their work as cultural ambassadors was recognized with a commendation from the Washington State legislature.) The many albums it has recorded, including The Moon Is Silently Singing, When the Morning Stars Sang Together, Carmina Burana, Joys of Christmas, and Irish Christmas, have been highly praised and received extensive radio exposure. The Company has recorded soundtracks for Public Television (Death: the Trip of a Lifetime) and NBC (Crime and Punishment and Noah’s Ark), and its recordings have been used in dozens of Hollywood movie trailers.
Freddie Coleman, the Artistic Director has also championed America’s finest contemporary choral composers, offering listeners their first live hearing of such works as Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum, Philip Glass’ Itaipu, Hawley’s Songs of Kabir, Roxanna Panufnik’s Westminster Mass, and Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna. In 2001, the SCC commissioned a new choral work, Seattle, by New York composer William Hawley, as part of the city of Seattle’s sesquicentennial celebrations. Additionally, the Company has commissioned and premiered new works from gifted Seattle composers, such as Donald Skirvin and Bern Herbolsheimer. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently applauded this commitment, stating “it’s not surprising that Coleman…would devote an entire program to contemporary music. He has long been an advocate for living composers.”
The Seattle Choral Company has become a valued collaborator with other performing arts organizations in the Seattle area. It has appeared on stage with the Pacific Northwest Ballet many times, including several mountings of Kent Stowell’s staging of Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Hail to the Conquering Hero, featuring choruses by Handel. In 2010, the SCC appeared with the Seattle Youth Symphony in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”) at Benaroya Hall. The SCC has appeared with the Seattle Symphony on many occasions, including Those Glorious MGM Movie Musicals, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Holiday Pops with Doc Severinsen, Holiday Pops with Marvin Hamlisch, New Year’s Eve with the Seattle Symphony, and most recently The Matrix Live In Concert. On four occasions, they appeared at the Paramount Theater in the touring production of Video Games Live, and members of the Company sang in both the Seattle and Portland productions of Star Wars In Concert. The SCC is an artist-in-residence at Seattle’s Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral.
Media Contact
Organization: Seattle Choral Company
Contact Person: Freddie Coleman
Website: https://www.seattlechoralcompany.org/
Email: [email protected]
Address: 302 N 78th Street
City: Seattle
State: Washington
Country: United States
