The Chorale is comprised of singers from over a dozen communities in the northwest Illinois, southern Wisconsin region. Its members represent a diverse demographic cross section of the population, including professionals, businesspersons, and students.
The Highland Chorale, which marked its 30th anniversary in 2023, provides an opportunity for serious singers to develop, create, produce, and perform a diverse repertoire of choral masterworks and contemporary compositions of the highest quality.
Local Performances
The Chorale performs regularly on the Ferguson Fine Arts Center stage. Each fall they participate in a program titled “From Stage and Screen,” which features a diverse repertoire from the American Musical Songbook including works by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, and Leonard Bernstein. Recent performances have also include music from “Les Miserables,” “The Lion King,” “Cabaret,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Ragtime,” and numerous others American Musical Theatre classics.
The Chorale performs major choral works with members of our orchestra, and alongside other Highland Vocal Ensembles. “Weihnachts-Oratorium,” J.S. Bach, “Carmina Burana,” Carl Orff and “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” Gian-Carlo Menotti are some examples of this type of work, and a variety of languages are represented in performances. The Chorale also regularly programs works from the catalog of American Folk Songs and Spirituals including the music by Moses Hogan, William Dawson and Alice Parker.
History of the Chorale
Throughout its history, the Chorale has appeared at prominent venues across the country and abroad, having completed three international tours to Italy, Austria, and Germany. During one of these tours, the group received a special invitation to perform at High Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
The Chorale also earned a place, by audition, in an all-Brahms concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1998, performing under the direction of celebrated German conductor Helmut Rilling.
In 2000, the Highland Chorale was named Illinois’s official recipient of the Continental Harmony Millennium Music Project Grant, a program supported by the American Composers Forum and the National Endowment for the Arts. As part of the White House Millennium Celebration, this initiative supported the creation of new musical works, and the Chorale’s involvement culminated in a May 2000 performance of an original piece written by local composer Patrick Beckman and local poet Dan Smith.
Get more information on the Continental Harmony Project.
The Chorale is directed by Heidi Spotts-Manthey. For more information, please contact the Fine Arts Department at 815.599.3490.
About the Director
Heidi Spotts-Manthey is an instructor and choir director at Highland Community College in Freeport, IL. She is a 2002 graduate of North Central College with a Bachelor of Arts and a 2006 graduate of Northern Illinois University with a Masters in Music. She has taught in music classrooms for the last 20+ years.
She has directed numerous music festivals, been an adjudicator for multiple area contests, and has been involved in community theatre. During her career, she has been listed in “Who’s Who Among American Teachers,” awarded the “Excellence in Teaching Award” from Highland Community College, and was the Illinois Community College Trustee Association’s Part Time Instructor nominee for 2022. She is a member of ILMEA and IGSMA. She is married to Miles Manthey and they have two children, Jackson and Ryker.