TAPESTRY: The Music of US
As we celebrate five years of choral artistry, Orlando Sings presents a season woven with the voices, traditions, and musical expressions that bring us together. Tapestry: The Music of US features a wide range of music shaped by the American experience—honoring the sounds that connect our community, our country, and our shared story.
CONCERT DESCRIPTIONS
SING OUR STORY
ORLANDO SINGS SYMPHONIC CHORUS | HARMONIA | APOLLO
Andrew Minear, Sandra Shafer, Zach Pecore | Conductors
November 25, 2025 7:30 PM | STEINMETZ HALL at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Our fifth season begins with a vibrant celebration of the voices that shape both our nation and the Greater Orlando community.
Sing Our Story brings together the Orlando Sings Symphonic Chorus, Harmonia, and our NEW tenor-bass choir Apollo in a program inspired by the rich cultural traditions that make up the American mosaic. Featuring music rooted in Latino, Indian, and other immigrant communities of Central Florida, this concert honors the diverse stories that continue to shape who we are as Americans.
Audiences will also encounter genres born on American soil—from spirituals to jazz, pop, barbershop, and Broadway—creating a musical tapestry that celebrates joy, complexity, and the ties that bind us together.
Experience the music of a nation in song—and hear how all our voices come together to sing our story.
A SOLARIA SOLSTICE
Reflections on Light and the New Year with Traditional Songs of the Season
SOLARIA SINGERS
Andrew Minear, Conductor
December 21, 2025 7:00 PM | ORLANDO MUSEUM OF ART
Orlando Sings presents the 5th annual A Solaria Solstice—a luminous holiday concert featuring music for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, alongside new, classical, and multicultural works that reflect on the year’s longest night and the light of hope entering the world. Praised as “exquisite,” “transcendent,” and “the deepest expression of the cathartic power of music,” this evening offers a moving blend of song and spoken word.
Led by conductor Dr. Andrew Minear, Orlando’s own professional chamber choir, the Solaria Singers, performs in an acoustically excellent setting.
This concert transcends cultural and religious boundaries, offering space to reflect on both the literal and metaphorical seasons of darkness and light.
Solaria, recently named Orlando Weekly’s “Best Chamber Music Group,” has been hailed as “mind-blowing… delightful, entertaining, and thought-provoking.”
Perfect for: Anyone seeking an intimate, culturally rich, and emotionally resonant holiday experience that blends modern and traditional music with theatrical beauty.
EL MESÍAS (HANDEL’S MESSIAH)
ORLANDO SINGS SYMPHONIC CHORUS & ORCHESTRA
Andrew Minear, Conductor
February 26, 2025 7:30 PM | STEINMETZ HALL at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
George Frideric Handel Messiah (performed in Spanish)
Experience Handel’s Messiah like never before—in Spanish.
Join the Orlando Sings Symphonic Chorus for a powerful and culturally rich performance of El Mesías, a full-length Spanish-language rendition of Handel’s beloved oratorio. This timeless masterwork, traditionally sung in English, takes on new life and immediacy when heard in the beauty and rhythm of the Spanish language. Performed with subtitles.
Led by Dr. Andrew Minear, the Orlando Sings Symphonic Chorus is joined by a professional orchestra and acclaimed soloists for this stirring presentation of one of the most cherished works of all time.
Whether you’re hearing Messiah for the first time or returning to it with fresh ears, El Mesías offers a powerful musical journey—rich with drama, beauty, and emotional depth.
5th ANNUAL ORLANDO SINGS CHORAL FESTIVAL: THREADS OF FREEDOM
Join us for Threads of Freedom—a powerful three-concert festival that weaves together music of celebration, resilience, and hope. Orlando Sings’ choirs and guest artists explore humanity’s quest for liberty and dignity through music that spans centuries and cultures.
VOICE AND FLAME
SOLARIA SINGERS & PLAYERS
Andrew Minear, Conductor
May 16, 2025 4:00 PM | ALEXIS & JIM PUGH THEATER
Marc-Antoine Charpentier Te Deum (H.146)
Veljo Tormis Curse Upon Iron
Francis Poulenc Figure Humaine
In this bold and evocative program, Orlando’s own professional choir, the Solaria Singers, weave together music across centuries. From pre-Revolutionary France to Soviet-era Estonia to occupied WWII Paris, Voice and Flame traces humanity’s struggle, resilience, and hope in times of upheaval.
Charpentier’s radiant Te Deum, written in the splendor of the French monarchy, opens the program with music of glory and divine order—an echo of the world soon questioned by Enlightenment thinkers. Their ideas of liberty and equality profoundly shaped both the French Revolution and the founding ideals of the United States.
The program then journeys into Veljo Tormis’ haunting Curse Upon Iron, a work rooted in Estonian folk tradition and written under the shadow of Soviet rule, before culminating in Poulenc’s iconic Figure Humaine—a secret musical plea for freedom composed during the Nazi occupation of France.
Together, these works form a dramatic arc from royal courts to the universal longing for liberty, inviting audiences to reflect on the global threads that continue to shape the American story.
STAND TALL: RAMSEY’S SUFFRAGE CANTATA
HARMONIA & SOLARIA PLAYERS
Sandra Shafer, Conductor
May 16, 2025 8:00 PM | ALEXIS & JIM PUGH THEATER
Alexandra Olsavsky What Happens When a Woman?
Andrea Ramsey Suffrage Cantata
Rosephanye Powell Still I Rise
Harmonia’s STAND TALL traces the journey of the women’s suffrage movement from first calls for justice to the ongoing spirit of empowerment—beginning with Alexandra Olsavsky’s What Happens When a Woman? and closing with Rosephanye Powell’s rousing Still I Rise.
The heart of the program is Andrea Ramsey’s groundbreaking Suffrage Cantata, a five-movement choral-oratorio for SSA chorus, soloists, piano, string quartet, narration, and percussion. Written after extensive research, Ramsey interweaves original music with historical speeches, letters, banners, and songs of influential figures such as Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth, and Mary Church Terrell.
The work traces the arc of the movement:
- “It Is Coming” sets the stage with early calls for rights.
- “Failure Is Impossible” captures Anthony’s trial and defiance.
- “A Woman’s Place” honors Ida B. Wells and the 1913 suffrage parade.
- “Shall Not Be Denied” faces the backlash and struggle endured by protestors.
- “Forward Into Light” celebrates victory while pointing to the work that still lies ahead, echoing Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s words, “Lifting as we climb.”
Ramsey’s score acknowledges the complexity of history, honoring the courage of the women who fought for change while recognizing the movement’s shortcomings and the contributions of those who were too often overlooked. In this tapestry-themed season, STAND TALL celebrates many voices woven together across decades, reminding us of the shared journey toward equality and inviting us—together—“forward into light.”
CELEBRATE 250 YEARS OF THE UNITED STATES
ORLANDO SINGS SYMPHONIC CHORUS | HARMONIA | APOLLO | SENIOR SINGERS | SOLARIA PLAYERS
Andrew Minear, Sandra Shafer, & Zach Pecore, Conductors
J. Christine Le, Guest Conductor
Brandon Boyd, Special Guest Artist
May 19, 2025 7:30 PM
STEINMETZ HALL
Brandon Boyd Redeem the Dream
Michael Bussewitz-Quarm US
plus American Choral Classics & Patriotic Favorites in Honor of Veterans
Celebrate 250 Years of the United States is a landmark concert presented by Orlando Sings, bringing together more than 300 singers from across Central Florida for a powerful musical tribute to our nation’s founding ideals. Featuring the Symphonic Chorus, Harmonia, Apollo, Senior Singers, and guest high school choirs, this multi-generational event offers a dynamic celebration of American music.
At the heart of the program is Brandon Boyd’s Redeem the Dream, a stirring work rooted in the Declaration of Independence and inspired by Langston Hughes’ poem Let America Be America Again. This piece invites audiences to reflect on the founding promise that all people are created equal and to consider how each generation carries forward the American dream.
Also featured is US by Michael Bussewitz-Quarm, a work that draws from the wisdom of American voices across the centuries. This inspiring piece highlights the habits that strengthen our nation: staying informed, taking part in civic life, engaging respectfully with others, and striving for the common good. At its heart is the ideal expressed in our national motto—“E Pluribus Unum”—a reminder of unity through shared responsibility.
The concert concludes with beloved patriotic music and tributes honoring veterans of every generation. Together, these performances offer audiences a chance to celebrate our shared history, reflect on the journey of the past 250 years, and look forward with renewed hope and civic spirit.
COMMUNITY PERFORMANCES
Sunday Live! at Lutheran Towers
PROGRAM: BE THE LOVE
SOLARIA SINGERS (octet)
Andrew Minear, Conductor
Orlando Lutheran Towers
300 East Church Street
Orlando, FL, 32801
Sunday, September 21, 2025 3:00 PM
Join the Solaria Singers, Orlando’s own professional choir, under the direction of Andrew Minear, for an uplifting afternoon of music that invites us to reflect on how we can bring more love, light, and compassion into the world. This inspiring program features choral works that celebrate hope, kindness, and the transformative power of human connection.
FRIENDS OF THE PHILHARMONIC
PROGRAM: SONGS OF LOVE & LIGHT
SOLARIA SINGERS (octet)
Andrew Minear, Conductor
Thursday, November 13, 2025 7:00 PM
Orlando’s own professional choir, the Solaria Singers, present a luminous a cappella program celebrating themes of love and light. From radiant Renaissance gems to Romantic-era part songs by Mendelssohn and Brahms, spirituals, and contemporary treasures, this concert offers a journey through beauty, warmth, and joy in song.
PAST CONCERTS & EVENTS
TAPESTRY: SEASON 5 KICKOFF EVENT
CHORAL SINGING IN AMERICA: Nurturing the Country’s Soul
A Special Screening & Celebration
Hosted by Andrew Minear & Sarah Purser
Thursday, September 4, 2025 | 5:30 PM
ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH, WINTER PARK
Join us for an inspiring evening as we launch the fifth season of Orlando Sings: Tapestry—The Music of Us. We’ll gather for a special private screening of Choral Singing in America, a moving new documentary making its Florida premiere.
The film beautifully captures the stories, sounds, and social impact of choral music across the country—illuminating how Americans sing in schools, communities, churches, concert halls, prisons, and beyond. It’s a powerful tribute to the way choral singing builds connection, resilience, and joy.
This celebration will include light hors d’oeuvres and drinks as we welcome choir members, patrons, donors, and friends to the start of what promises to be our most meaningful season yet.