Concerts
Concert Schedule – 2025-2026 Season
2025 Christmas Concert
Director Paul Laprade is pleased to present our 2025 spring concert titled ‘EXPERIENCES OF JOY.’
‘A Concert of Carols’ will feature the music of Benjamin Britten, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Libby Larsen, Javier Busto, Peter Warlock, and others, and will include renowned harpist Nicole Young. We are also excited to be joined in this concert by the choirs of St. John’s Lutheran School (Chicago), under the direction of Katrina Jurica.
November 23, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.
St John Lutheran Church
305 Circle Ave.
Forest Park, IL
Concert Schedule – 2024-2025 Season
2025 Spring Concert
Director Paul Laprade is pleased to present our 2025 spring concert titled ‘EXPERIENCES OF JOY.’
Music can be joyful! We seek joy in our lives, through experiences and relationships. OPCC will offer its experiences of joy through special choral works. We will present newer compositions by composers Ben Parry and William Schuman, madrigal-inspired works by Williametta Spencer and Jan Pieter Sweelinck, and beautifully re-envisioned spirituals by Moses Hogan and Gwyneth Walker. OPCC will also bring the joy of singing works from our traditional repertory by Lindblad, Howells, and others. Michael Costello will be our esteemed organist and soloist.
Join us in a joyful concert!
Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.
First United Methodist Church of Oak Park
324 N. Oak Park Ave.
Oak Park, IL
2024 Christmas Concert
Director Paul Laprade is pleased to present our 2024 Christmas concert titled A Feast of Carols: A Festive Concert in Honor of Paul Lindblad.
Oak Park Concert Chorale invites you to hear a concert of unique settings of classic carols, from arrangers old and new, to bring the season to light in our hearts and minds. The program includes Elizabeth Poston’s setting of the early American carol Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. We will premiere three exciting carol settings by Paul Lindblad, Harvey Hahn, and Paul Ayres: O Radiant Dawn, In the Bleak Mid-Winter, and This is the Truth Sent from Above, as well as the first performance of a lovely Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from the archives of Carl Schalk.
2024 Spring Concert
Sunday, April 28, Canticles for the Soul
This concert was cancelled April 26, 2024, as director Paul Lindblad took ill.
2023 Christmas Concert
Director Paul Lindblad is pleased to present our Christmas 2023 concert titled Make We Joy Now in This Fest.
Oak Park Concert Chorale invites you to a cornucopia of unusual Christmas carols hailing from as far back as Medieval England. O Nata Lux (Thomas Tallis) and Jazz Gloria (Natalie Sleeth) bookend the concert, which features the world premieres of Promised and Fulfilled by Harvey Hahn, and I Sing of a Maiden by our conductor Paul Lindblad.
The centerpiece is a wonderful cantata Make We Joy Now in This Fest by Carl Schalk, narrating the story of Christmas. Rarely performed shape note hymns with haunting melodies and Slovak carols will be sung.
We look forward to you joining us as we merrily begin to celebrate the yuletide!
Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 4:00 p.m.
St. John Lutheran Church
305 Circle Ave
Forest Park, IL
2022-2023 Season
Director Paul Lindblad is pleased to present our spring 2023 concert titled Premières-Passion and Spirituals.
Oak Park Concert Chorale proudly invites you to a unique trilogy of première performances:
– Three Chamber Spirituals – Kevin Allen
– Psalm 121 – Maurice Boyer
– The Passion According to Saint John – Paul Lindblad
The talented organist, Michael Costello, will be featured in this concert along with works by Johann Crüger, Guy de Lioncourt, Carl Schalk, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Do not miss hearing these beautiful selections!
Sunday, April 2, 2023, at 4:00 p.m.
St John Lutheran Church
305 Circle Ave
Forest Park, IL
2022 Christmas Concerts
OPCC’s Christmas concerts return in 2022! We look forward to seeing you as we present carols and Magnificats spanning from the 13th to the 21st centuries. The talented organist, Andrew Schaeffer, will be featured in this concert, along with premiere performances of works by composers Harvey Hahn, Carl Schalk, and Paul Lindblad. Joyful sounds ranging from the mystical to the celebratory will create a delectable musical feast. Please do join us as we usher in this joyous season to share with family and friends!
We are so excited to be singing again after a 2-year hiatus due to Covid. Please celebrate with us as we embrace coming together, out of the shadows, to raise our voices in joy as we sing for you. Our program has a variety of song genres spanning between the 16th to 21st centuries. Some of the composers on the program include works from Kevin Allen, Johannes Brahms, Orlando di Lasso, Paul Lindblad, Easthope Martin, and Carl Schalk.
