Betinis/ Bell/ Grant Park Chorus - Songs of Smaller Creatures & Other American Choral

Conducted by Christopher Bell, Chicago's Grant Park Chorus, "as fine a symphony chorus as any to be found anywhere in the nation" (Chicago Tribune), makes it's a cappella CD debut with an all-American program of eight imaginative, moving, and sometimes whimsical works written between 1975 and 2005, including four world-premiere recordings. Premieres include Abbie Betinis's Toward Sunshine, Toward Freedom: Songs of Smaller Creatures. Lee Kesselman's Buzzings: Three Pieces about Bees offers vignettes based on Emily Dickinson poems. Paul Crabtree's Five Romantic Miniatures is a set of affectionate tributes to characters from the Simpsons animated TV series. The chorus made it's commercial recording debut performing with the Grant Park Orchestra on the 2011 Cedille Records release the Pulitzer Project, which attracted international attention. Chicago's New City said the CD "spectacularly showcased" the chorus's "remarkable transparency and flexibility."