Adrian Dunn
Amanda Crider
Amanda Forsythe
James Reese
Jonathan Woody
Updated 3/1/2022 4:23 PM
Notable artists with Chicago roots will join the Elgin Symphony Orchestra for its “Mozart Requiem” concerts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 5, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 6, at the Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin.
The concerts begin with four acclaimed vocalists — soprano Amanda Forsythe, mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider, tenor James Reese, and bass-baritone Jonathan Woody — performing Thomas Tallis’ historic hymn “Why fum’th in fight.”
Reese is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. A noted interpreter of baroque music, Reese is also an advocate for new music, and was a founding was a founding member of Philadelphia vocal sextet Variant 6.
A richly scored, double string ESO production of Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Theme by Thomas Tallis,” will follow. Finally, the soloists and the ESO will be joined by The Adrian Dunn Singers for the complex and emotional Mozart’s “Requiem.”
Dunn, an accomplished singer, songwriter and producer, holds degrees in voice from The Music Conservatory at Roosevelt University with additional musical studies in opera at The Sibelius Academy of Music in Finland. He has toured throughout the U.S., South Africa, Italy, Germany, the U.K., and Scandinavia. His work as a producer and music director have won him numerous awards, including Album Producer of the Year for AME Live featuring the AME International Mass Choir from the Rhythm of Gospel Awards, and Best Music Director from the Black Theater Alliance Awards for his work Hopera: A Hip Hop Opera.
As music director for The Adrian Dunn Singers, he leads 12 professional singers of diverse musical backgrounds based in Chicago. The group has performed across the country, including at the Thomas Dorsey National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, and recently made their National Cathedral Debut.
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Leading the award-winning ESO is guest conductor Matthew Halls, an Oxford University alum, who has been welcomed to orchestras across Europe and the United States.
Tickets are $35-$65, $10 for students and youths younger than 18, and are available at the ESO Box Office, 20 DuPage Court, Elgin, or by phone at (847) 888-4000. Tickets may also be purchased online at ElginSymphony.org.
Masks and proof of complete COVID-19 vaccination are required for all attendees.
