Spiritualized

FROM ALTO TO BASSO Chicago a cappella founder Jonathan Miller, third from the right, poses with his singers and music director.

“I grew up in Hyde Park during the Black Power movement in the ’70s,” says Jonathan Miller, founder of Chicago a cappella, which performs a program of spirituals, “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” tied to Black History Month. “As a white man, I can’t claim to know exactly how it feels for an African-American brother or sister to sing a spiritual. But keeping the tradition alive is an honor and a privilege.”

Formed in 1993, Chicago a cappella has explored the world sonically with French, Argentine and British a cappella programs as well as “Voces Latinas,” a Latin repertoire inspired by Miller’s love of Chilean poet-politician Pablo Neruda. The largely white nine-member ensemble opened its 2009–10 season with “Baroque and Beatles,” a program that paired Bach motets with hits such as “Drive My Car.”

Before attending the University of North Carolina, Miller studied under a number of masters in the field, including the Rev. Christopher Moore, founder of the Chicago Children’s Choir, and Lena McLin, director of the music program at Miller’s high school, Kenwood Academy. “The spirituals got under my skin early on and never left,” reflects the 46-year-old Downers Grove resident.

Baritone Matt Greenberg, 46, executive director of Chicago a cappella and longtime member of the Grant Park Chorus, adds, “Spirituals are one of the greatest artistic legacies we have in this country. Everyone in the U.S. who grows up singing in grade school, church or community choirs comes across spirituals.” Yet despite the abundance of spirituals in choral music, the classical-music community’s racial diversity has room to expand—something the members of Chicago a cappella are particularly aware of this month. “Progress has certainly been made,” Greenberg says, “[but] there is still a long way to go before we can claim to be truly diverse.”

Miller, a hiking enthusiast who manages the sales department of a small software company, agrees: “It’s pretty obvious that classical music in Chicago is not nearly as all-embracing as it could be.” Miller cites “great programs” such as Merit School of Music and the Musical Offering in Evanston, which makes training accessible to people from a variety of ethnic and financial backgrounds. “If the classical community decided it was important to broaden the sorts of people that participate in the art form, then we would see many more ensembles like the Chicago Sinfonietta,” Miller adds, referring to the local orchestra that counts more than 50 percent of its membership and audience as people of color.

In “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” Miller’s always imaginative programming features student choirs from Oak Park and River Forest High School and Naperville North High School joining in on Brazeal Dennard’s “Hush! Somebody’s Callin’ My Name,” in addition to works ranging from stately and traditional Isaac Watts–style hymns to complex and contemporary paeans. “Some are just plain fun,” Greenberg says. “I’m in love with Robert L. Morris’s ‘Save Me, Lord,’ a real tour de force—very rhythmic and infectious with a big barn-burner ending.” For Miller, the showstopper is “Crucifixion” by Adolphus Hailstork, a phenomenal modern piece that drove Miller to tears the first time he heard it: “It’s got lament, pleading, sadness, energy and huge blow-your-mind chords at the end.”

“I feel compelled to sing and program spirituals just like I feel the need to vote,” he muses. “Spirituals keep me rooted in the ongoing demand for justice, as a reminder that many essential promises of our democracy have yet to be fulfilled. This music reminds me that there are a lot bigger problems out there than my own.”

Chicago a cappella presents “Roll, Jordan, Roll” at Wentz Concert Hall Saturday 6 and Merit School of Music Sunday 7.

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