Christmas a cappella with the Calmus Vocal Ensemble December 3, 2011

Lakewood Cultural Center presents

Christmas a cappella with the Calmus Vocal Ensemble

Kindle your holiday spirit with a program of traditional and original holiday compositions as Lakewood Cultural Center presents the a cappella quintet Calmus Vocal Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 3 in the intimate 316-seat theater, 470 S. Allison Parkway at Wadsworth Boulevard and West Alameda Avenue. Adult tickets are $26 and are available by calling 303-987-7845, going online at www.Lakewood.org or visiting the Lakewood Cultural Center Box Office. Senior, student and group discounts available. Free parking on-site.

The First Prize Winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Calmus Vocal Ensemble, embodies the rich choral tradition of its hometown of Leipzig, Germany, the city closely associated with Bach and Mendelssohn. Founded in 1999, the members of Calmus Vocal Ensemble are all graduates of Leipzig’s renowned St. Thomas Church Choir School. The ensemble offers the unique combination of a pure soprano voice with four male voices ranging from bass to countertenor. The seamless blend of these five voices lends itself to the almost limitless range of music the ensemble offers, from renaissance and baroque masters through great German romantic works all the way to contemporary choral repertoire and popular songs.

With no less than 10 recordings to its credit, Calmus Vocal Ensemble received the 2009 Echo Klassik Award for a disc of treasured German folksongs titled “Lied:gut!”. The group‘s latest CD, titled “Hausmusik,”, is a collection of songs by Robert and Clara Schumann and J.S. Bach, featuring a program that very well could have been heard at a salon concert in the Schumann home. This follows the 2009 release of the ensemble’s “Christmas Carols” album, its first CD of music for the holidays that has been received enthusiastically. Classics Today’s review said it was “...perfectly balanced ensemble singing, every note, every chord given exacting importance, delivered in the most vocally attractive, musically expressive style.”

An active concert schedule worldwide has already taken Calmus Vocal Ensemble across Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and North and South America. Festival appearances include International a cappella Week in Hannover and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival where the group attended a master class with the King’s Singers. In addition to garnering First Prize and numerous performance prizes at the CAG Competition, other prestigious awards bestowed upon the ensemble include first prizes at the fourth annual Robert Schumann Choral Competition, the International Competition for Vocal Ensembles in Finland and the 37th Tolosa Choral Contest in Spain.

The 2011-2012 Lakewood Cultural Center Presents season is generously supported by theScientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), with appreciation to the citizens of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, Colorado Creative Industries, to promote, support and expand the creative industries that drive Colorado’s economy, Sheraton Denver West and the Denver Post Community, improving and enriching the lives of those in our community.