Cleveland Chamber Choir Announces 2026/27 12th Season

Following an enormously successful eleventh year, the Cleveland Chamber Choir, the region’s premier professional choral ensemble, is proud to announce its 2026-27 season. Renowned for its elegant sound and stylistic versatility, the choir will present a series of concerts featuring music spanning eight centuries, and highlighting the breadth and beauty of a cappella music.

The choir’s twelfth season features four choral programs plus several camerata series recitals, showcasing quartets of singers. The concerts reflect the choir’s commitment to choral music as a vehicle for good in the world that should be accessible and welcoming to all. Unique among professional arts organizations, the choir continues its tradition of pay what you wish tickets for concerts, a portion of which go to support local charity partners.

The season marks Artistic Director Gregory Ristow’s fourth year leading the ensemble. “I’m especially excited about the season’s strong a cappella focus, and our return to commissioning new music,” said Ristow, who was praised by critics last season for, “his customary economy and calm authority,” (Kevin McLaughlin, Cleveland Classical) as well as, “his masterful job of keeping everything together, but also for bringing out revelatory musical details and memorable nuances in music we thought we already knew inside and out,” (Daniel Hathaway, Cleveland Classical).

Season Kick-off: A Night at the Cabaret Fundraiser
On August 13, 2026, join the choir at the BOP STOP as Cleveland Chamber Choir singers showcase songs from musical theater, the American Songbook and more! Your ticket goes beyond just a night of entertainment; funds raised during the evening contribute to the choir’s success and the inclusive programming and charitable partnerships undertaken by the choir, as a nonprofit committed to providing free live music to the Northeast Ohio region.

The 2026-27 Season’s Choral Programs 🎶
All of the season’s choral programs are offered with pay what you wish tickets, thanks to the generosity of our donors and foundation supporters.

The season will open and close at Trinity Cathedral, where Cleveland Chamber Choir continues in their third season as Artist in Residence. The Cathedral has a storied history of bringing vibrant performances to downtown Cleveland.

On September 25–27, 2026, the choir will present Path of Miracles, Joby Talbot’s 2005 semi-staged contemporary choral work tracing the Camino de Santiago. Drawing on medieval texts, Catholic liturgy, and sung in seven languages, the piece weaves global musical influences into a moving meditation on endurance and unity, creating a shared journey of fortitude, reflection, and transformation.

Inspired by themes of pilgrimage and search for connection, a portion of portion of all pay what you wish ticket funds will be directed to the Interfaith Group Against Hate. IGAH is a group of faith-based congregations from multiple religious traditions who have joined together to combat rising hate and White Supremacy through research, education, building of relationships across barriers, mutual aid and action.

Marking All Souls’ Day, CCC will present Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Officium Defunctorum on November 6 & 7, 2026. Often referred to as his Requiem, this Renaissance masterwork will be performed alongside Eleanor Daley’s Requiem, a stunning work interspersing the traditional Latin Requiem text with English poetry.

Inspired by musical themes of remembrance and loss, a portion of all pay what you wish ticket funds will be directed to Joel’s Place for Children, which provides peer-based grief support for school-aged children and their families who have experienced the death of someone special.

On April 3, 2027, the choir joins forces with Alla Boara to present Work & Song, a program rooted in heritage, storytelling, and innovation, with Alla Boara’s folk-jazz reimagining of near-extinct Italian regional songs. Featuring new choral arrangements by jazz pianist Joe Leaman, the two ensembles come together at Trinity Cathedral for this immersive musical performance.

The choir explores the connections between music and the cosmos on May 7 & 8, 2027, with Music of the Spheres, centered around Kile Smith’s The Consolation of Apollo, with additional works by Melissa Dunphy, Claudio Monteverdi and others. The concert will include stunning space photography from NASA. Featured on the program will be the premiere of a newly commissioned three-movement choral work by Calvin Ray Shawler, a student at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music whose compositions have been premiered by the Poeisis Quartet and Oberlin’s Now Chorale. Furthering representation by NEOhio, the concert includes Corey K. Rubin’s Gold on Every Cloud, which the choir premiered in 2023. This concert will also feature a side-by-side performance with Oberlin Choristers, building on the strong relationship between the two organizations and the choir’s highly successful educational outreach program.

Inspired by themes of curiosity and discovery, a portion of all pay what you wish ticket funds will support Rise Up: Northeast Ohio, which provides immersive science experiences for public school students in Cleveland.

Pre-concert talks will be offered prior to each concert this season, offering insightful perspectives on the music to be performed that evening.

The 2026-27 Camerata Series
As part of its Camerata Series, two programs will be offered by small ensembles of singers from the Cleveland Chamber Choir. In December, enjoy In Four Voices, featuring Americana a cappella choral music. In February and late spring, enjoy the delightful Liebeslieder Waltzes by Johannes Brahms, featuring four singers and four-hand piano. These will be presented in collaboration with Trinity Cathedral’s free Brownbag Series, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s free Chamber Music Series, and other music programs throughout Northeast Ohio.

The choir is grateful for the grant support provided by the Bascom Little Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Ohio Arts Council, The George Gund Foundation, and support by Trinity Cathedral as named Artist in Residence.

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Concert Dates & Locations
A Night at the Cabaret Fundraiser
Thursday, August 13, 2026, 7:00pm, BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland

Path of Miracles
Friday, September 25, 7:30pm, First Lutheran Church, 1019 W. 5th St., Lorain
Saturday, September 26, 7:30pm, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
Sunday, September 27, 4:00pm, Christ Presbyterian Church, 530 Tuscarawas St. W., Canton
*This concert generously supported by the Concert Series at CPC

Lux Aeterna: Victoria’s Requiem
Friday, November 6, 7:30pm, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
Saturday, November 7, 7:00pm, Christ Episcopal Church, 162 S. Main St., Oberlin

Work & Song
Saturday, April 3, 2027, 7:00pm, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

Music of the Spheres
Friday, May 7, 7:30pm, West Shore Unitarian, 20401 Hilliard Blvd., Rocky River
Saturday, May 8, 7:30pm, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

Camerata Series
In Four Voices: Americana
Wednesday, December 2, 2026, noon, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
Wednesday, December 16, 2026, 6:00pm, Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd, Cleveland
Sunday, December 20, 2026, 4:00pm, Judson Manor, 1890 E 107th St, Cleveland

Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes
Wednesday, February 17, 2027, noon, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
Sunday, March 7, 2027, 4:00pm, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 127 Cherry Rd NE, Massillon
Wednesday, May 19, 2027, 6:00pm, Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd, Cleveland