Combined Choirs
The Haverford choirs study a cappella literature of all styles and periods separately, but they also combine for the performance of larger choral works with orchestral accompaniment. Over the years, the Combined Choirs have combined their efforts to sing Franz Schubert’s Mass in G Major; Daniel Pinkahm’s Christmas Cantata;lTe Deum by Josef Haydn; settings of Gloria and Magnificat by Antonio Vivaldi; G.F Handel’s Coronation Anthems Nos 1 and 4 as well as excerpts from Messiah; excerpts from Mendelssohn’s Elijah; and presented the Main Line premiere of Donald McCullough’s Holocaust Cantata.
More recently, the choirs presented an all Eric Whitacre concert featuring Five Hebrew Songs, the amusing Animal Crackers Volume I, and the a cappella ‘monument,’ Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine. In 2014, the choirs performed a staged version of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff to a packed audience.
The Haverford Combined Choirs have also toured and performed in major cities throughout the East Coast and Canada, The Combined Choirs have presented concerts in major venues including the Opening Day Ceremonies at the Regional Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, US Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, National Cathedral in Washington, Bush Chapel at Harvard, Heinz Chapel in Pittsburgh, Riverside Church and Holy Cross Times Square, New York City, as well as Notre Dame de Niege in Quebec. have received superior ratings at PMEA adjudications and were featured performers at the PMEA State Conventions in 2001 and 2015, while the sub-group, Chamber Singers were featured in 2012.
In 2000,twenty-three singers from both groups competed and received a silver medal in the first Choral Olympics in Linz,Austria,
In 2007, 26 select voices from both groups competed in an invitation- only choral festival called “Vivace”in Vesprem, Hungary. The group was the only high school ensemble featured with 8 university and adult choirs. The singers won “Best Interpretation of a Contemporary Piece” for their rendition of Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque. The singers were presented in concert in the historic Matyas Templom in Budapest as well as in the Bergkirche in Eisenstadt, Austria where Haydn is interred.