The Decorah Chorale was founded in the summer of 1996 by John Bay, director of the choir until his retirement in 2014. From an original membership of fifteen, the Chorale has musically prospered into a fine community choir of 80 members. Since 2014, Chorale has been led by Jason Rausch. Having made over 140 domestic and international appearances, the group draws upon the wealth of talent from communities in northeast Iowa and southeastern Minnesota. Founded for "community and charitable benefit," the Chorale has performed concerts to financially support Luther College's Nordic Choir, the Decorah High School Music Department, Decorah Community Food Pantry, and over twenty annual Christmas concerts for Habitat For Humanity. They also continue to fulfill their mission by providing performance opportunities for local instrumentalists. The Chorale is sustained almost entirely through membership dues and the generosity of friends in the community who share their love and appreciation of quality choral music. In 2005, Iowa Public Television honored the Decorah Chorale with a special program acclaiming the group's dedication to the advancement of cultural understanding, and its charitable mission within the community and the midwest.
Each year The Decorah Chorale presents two traditional concerts - a holiday concert and a spring concert, and an annual cabaret concert. Additional special concerts and collaborations are scheduled as time allows.
Recent collaborations:
In the fall of 2022 Decorah Chorale joined the Luther College Nordic Choir and Decorah High School Concert Choir in a special benefit concert Decorah Sings! that raised over $3600 for the Decorah Community Food Bank. The choirs performed separately and then combined to share two final songs as one large choir.
Preparations were well underway in the spring of 2020 to perform Orff's Carmina Burana with Oneota Valley Community Orchestra when the coronavirus pandemic hit. The organizations hope to reschedule in the future.
In November 2019 Decorah Chorale shared a concert with the Luther College Collegiate Chorale and an orchestra of community members, at the Luther College CFL. Each choir presented a few pieces of their own, and then came together to present The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, by Jocelyn Hagen. This was a piece written from English translations from Da Vinci's notebooks, and performed with projected images from those notebooks and additional images.
In the spring of 2017 Decorah Chorale held a concert with Oneota Valley Community Orchestra. The centerpiece of the concert was Mozart's Requiem performed with soloists Jennaya Robison, Jill Phillips, Jared Rogers and Chad Sonka, Decorah Chorale, and OVCO.
2020-2021 & 2021-2022 Season and the COVID-19 Pandemic:
The Chorale continued to make music and be in community with each other during the pandemic. In the fall of 2020, virtual sectional rehearsals were held via Zoom. In March 2021, the singers gathered for more Zoom sectional rehearsals. Then, in April, singers met outside in the Decorah High School parking lot distanced and with masks for three rehearsals. The Spring Concert was held in the parking lot on Sunday, May 2 with the audience spread throughout the parking lot in lawn chairs. In the fall of 2021, the choir resumed full-time in-person rehearsals distanced and sometimes masked at Decorah Lutheran Church. The 2021 Christmas Concert was held in the DHS Auditorium to allow for audience distancing and comfort, and the singers sang with masks. In the spring term of 2022, the singers rehearsed on Zoom, at DLC and then at DHS in the choir room for the first time in two years. The choir followed the CDC Community Tracker for when to wear masks. They performed the Spring Concert at DLC without mitigation.
Each year The Decorah Chorale presents two traditional concerts - a holiday concert and a spring concert, and an annual cabaret concert. Additional special concerts and collaborations are scheduled as time allows.
Recent collaborations:
In the fall of 2022 Decorah Chorale joined the Luther College Nordic Choir and Decorah High School Concert Choir in a special benefit concert Decorah Sings! that raised over $3600 for the Decorah Community Food Bank. The choirs performed separately and then combined to share two final songs as one large choir.
Preparations were well underway in the spring of 2020 to perform Orff's Carmina Burana with Oneota Valley Community Orchestra when the coronavirus pandemic hit. The organizations hope to reschedule in the future.
In November 2019 Decorah Chorale shared a concert with the Luther College Collegiate Chorale and an orchestra of community members, at the Luther College CFL. Each choir presented a few pieces of their own, and then came together to present The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, by Jocelyn Hagen. This was a piece written from English translations from Da Vinci's notebooks, and performed with projected images from those notebooks and additional images.
In the spring of 2017 Decorah Chorale held a concert with Oneota Valley Community Orchestra. The centerpiece of the concert was Mozart's Requiem performed with soloists Jennaya Robison, Jill Phillips, Jared Rogers and Chad Sonka, Decorah Chorale, and OVCO.
2020-2021 & 2021-2022 Season and the COVID-19 Pandemic:
The Chorale continued to make music and be in community with each other during the pandemic. In the fall of 2020, virtual sectional rehearsals were held via Zoom. In March 2021, the singers gathered for more Zoom sectional rehearsals. Then, in April, singers met outside in the Decorah High School parking lot distanced and with masks for three rehearsals. The Spring Concert was held in the parking lot on Sunday, May 2 with the audience spread throughout the parking lot in lawn chairs. In the fall of 2021, the choir resumed full-time in-person rehearsals distanced and sometimes masked at Decorah Lutheran Church. The 2021 Christmas Concert was held in the DHS Auditorium to allow for audience distancing and comfort, and the singers sang with masks. In the spring term of 2022, the singers rehearsed on Zoom, at DLC and then at DHS in the choir room for the first time in two years. The choir followed the CDC Community Tracker for when to wear masks. They performed the Spring Concert at DLC without mitigation.
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Spring 2022
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