The Morton Community Chorus, of Morton, IL, has been performing Handel's Messiah annually for many, many years. The picture above is from our 2023 performance. Although, "Morton" is in the name, it is perhaps a misnomer, as people from all over Central Illinois regularly participate in the choir and orchestra. See our Memories of 2023 page for more pictures and a video of our last performance. We are looking forward to presenting this masterwork again on November 24, 2024.
WCBU FM Peoria Public Radio and Arts Partners of Central Illinois radio program "Out And About" interviewed Phil Witzig regarding Messiah 2015. Although about a past performance, it nonetheless has some interesting dialog regarding the production in general. Listen here.
WCBU FM Peoria Public Radio and Arts Partners of Central Illinois radio program "Out And About" interviewed Phil Witzig regarding Messiah 2015. Although about a past performance, it nonetheless has some interesting dialog regarding the production in general. Listen here.
Meet Our Distinguished 2024 Soloists:
Karen Stewart, Soprano: Karen Stewart, is a versatile lyric soprano. Her voice was described in a Chicago Tribune review as a “...lush soprano clear and vibrant, the top notes ringing and powerful.”
Karen, a Peoria native, enjoys a career that includes performances in Opera, Oratorio and Chamber Music. Ms. Stewart appeared at Carnegie Hall in the role of Die Aufseherin in Elektra with the Chicago Symphony under Maestro Daniel Barenboim. Other soloist appearances with the Chicago Symphony include the Bruckner Psalm 150, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and the Verdi Te Deum. Karen made her European debut touring Spain with the American Festival Orchestra. Highlights of her work with regional orchestras and choral societies include works such as Ein Deutsches Requiem, The Messiah, The Creation, St. John Passion, Mahler Symphony No. 4 and Carmina Burana. Also at home on the opera stage, Karen and has sung several of opera’s heroines with regional companies in New York and the Midwest. Her opera roles include, Masha in The Seagull, Susanna and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Fraulein Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor, Mimi in La Boheme, Gilda in Rigoletto and Violetta in La Traviata. Ms. Stewart was a winner of the Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artists Competition, the Josephine LiPuma Memorial Vocal Competition, the American Choral Foundation Grant, and the Margaret Hillis Fellowship Fund. She was an Apprentice Artist at Des Moines Metro Opera and a student at the American Institute for Musical Studies Opera Studio at Graz, Austria. She holds a Master's Degree in Voice and Opera Performance from Northwestern University. Future performances include a recital as a guest artist with the Gretch Iben Concert Series in Peoria.
Karen, a Peoria native, enjoys a career that includes performances in Opera, Oratorio and Chamber Music. Ms. Stewart appeared at Carnegie Hall in the role of Die Aufseherin in Elektra with the Chicago Symphony under Maestro Daniel Barenboim. Other soloist appearances with the Chicago Symphony include the Bruckner Psalm 150, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and the Verdi Te Deum. Karen made her European debut touring Spain with the American Festival Orchestra. Highlights of her work with regional orchestras and choral societies include works such as Ein Deutsches Requiem, The Messiah, The Creation, St. John Passion, Mahler Symphony No. 4 and Carmina Burana. Also at home on the opera stage, Karen and has sung several of opera’s heroines with regional companies in New York and the Midwest. Her opera roles include, Masha in The Seagull, Susanna and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Fraulein Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor, Mimi in La Boheme, Gilda in Rigoletto and Violetta in La Traviata. Ms. Stewart was a winner of the Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artists Competition, the Josephine LiPuma Memorial Vocal Competition, the American Choral Foundation Grant, and the Margaret Hillis Fellowship Fund. She was an Apprentice Artist at Des Moines Metro Opera and a student at the American Institute for Musical Studies Opera Studio at Graz, Austria. She holds a Master's Degree in Voice and Opera Performance from Northwestern University. Future performances include a recital as a guest artist with the Gretch Iben Concert Series in Peoria.
Stephanie Shelburne, Mezzo Soprano lives in Greenville, South Carolina, but is a Peoria native. She studied with Dawn Harris while working on her master of music degree in vocal performance and literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Stephanie was inspired to sing by the late Shirley Salazar, and is forever grateful for Mrs. Salazar’s teaching, kindness, and encouragement. She has studied at the Berlin Opera Academy, Foothills Opera Experience, Lyric Theatre Illinois, and recently debuted on the Rodeheaver Stage, Greenville, South Carolina as Madame de la Grande Bouche in the Disney musical Beauty and the Beast. Other roles have included the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and Dorabella in Cosí fan tutte. Stephanie is an active member of the Greenville Chorale, and has also performed in notable venues such as Carnegie Hall (New York City), the Orchestra Hall (Chicago), and the Mendelssohn House (Berlin). She currently has a thriving studio in Greenville, South Carolina, and is thrilled to be back in the Midwest for this performance.
Jeffrey Brich, Tenor: Jeffrey Brich, tenor, has distinguished himself in a broad spectrum of literature, performing with versatility and ease in orchestral, opera and recital venues. His strong creative service to the Cedar Valley and the University of Northern Iowa School of Music is marked by memorable performances with the UNI Lyric Theater, the Faculty Chamber Music Series, Iowa Composer’s Forum, and the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival. Professionally, he has performed roughly twenty roles in opera and oratorio, including frequent performances of Handel’s Messiah, Mendlessohn’s Elijah and Mozart’s Requiem, singing with orchestras in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Peoria, and Mendocino, CA, appearing with the Mendocino Music Festival as a soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. You can enjoy Jeffrey on professional recordings of Three Songs by contemporary composer Jerermy Beck, Zelenka’s Missa Omnium Sanctorum with Lyra Baroque Orchestra and the Grinnell Singers, and a live recording of the Requiem by Duruflé at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. As a tenor in residence, Jeffrey performed with David Aiken Production’s national tour of Amahl and the Night Visitors, and later with the Indianapolis Opera Touring Ensemble. Well known to Iowa audiences, he has appeared with orchestras in Dubuque, Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Des Moines, and often with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra in events ranging from Holiday Pops to a 9/11 Remembrance Concert. Jeffrey is currently in his 30th year as an instructor of Voice, first at Wartburg College and now at the University of Northern Iowa School of Music, where he began teaching in 2004. He holds degrees from the University of Iowa (B.M.) and the University of Northern Iowa (M.M.) and has earned several competitive honors. He resides in Cedar Falls, Iowa with his wife, Dr. Jean McDonald.
Neal Medina, Bass: Known for his versatility, Mr Medina is a singer who’s roles encompass a wide variety of opera seria, opera buffo and operetta. His triumph as Zoroastro in Handel’s Orlando with Chicago Opera Theater proved to critics his command of the operatic stage. A native of Chicago, Medina received his training from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. He was a participant in L’Accademia Verdiana in Busetto, Italy where he studied with Carlo Bergonzi. He later accepted a position as a young artist at Chicago Opera Theater and was an apprentice artist for two seasons at the Santa Fe Opera where he covered many roles including Peneos from Daphne, Dr Bartolo from Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Profondo Il Viaggio a Reims, Don Alfonso Cosi Fan Tutte, Seneca, L’incoronazione di Poppea, and many more. Medina has also performed the roles of Dr Bartolo in both Nozze and Barbiere, Snug in Midsummer, Major General and Sergeant of Police from Pirates, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sarastro from Magic Flute, and Sparafucile from Rigoletto. Medina was a first place and grand prize winner of the Bel Canto Foundation Competition, placed as a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and was a first place winner of the 2019 miOpera International Vocal Competition.
Peter Wykert, Organ: Peter Wykert, Piano/Organ: Peter is Cantor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Peoria. As Cantor, he serves as organist, conducts the adult choir, youth choir, handbells, and brass, and plans all worship services. He also composes and arranges music for Trinity’s ensembles and coordinates the livestream worship services. Outside of Trinity, he serves Concordia Lutheran School as accompanist, directs the German American Central Society Choirs, and freelances as organist, most recently with ISU’s Wind Symphony and Concert Choir. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia University Chicago and has earned certificates in the curriculums First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfège.
Help Support our Choir
Our annual concerts are held at Grace Church in Morton. Although Grace Church graciously allows us to use their beautiful sanctuary, our annual productions of Messiah are community events, performed by the Morton Community Choir and Orchestra. The concerts are free, and no tickets are required. The majority of our support is received from concertgoers through a free-will offering at the doors. Even if you missed this year's concert, if you have a passion to help this kind of event continue, you can still give online using the Donate button above. Money received throughout the year is put toward the following year's concert. (Online donations are handled for us through the Morton Fine Arts Association who directs 100% of donations through the donate button to us.) We also want to thank the following business sponsors for their help in underwriting our 2023 concert:
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Interested in Singing With Us?
There is nothing quite as thrilling as singing this masterpiece of music literature in a wonderful space with full choir, orchestra, and organ. If you have interest in this type of music, and the voice and talent to sing it, contact us at [email protected] to discuss the possibility of joining us!
From Morton to Carnegie Hall
2023 was a special year for the Morton Community Chorus! We were invited to participate in the Carnegie Hall Messiah concert on Sunday, November 26, 2023 in New York City! On Thanksgiving day, 30 members of our choir flew to New York City to rehearse with and perform Messiah on one of world's most famous concert halls. We were vetted through a confidential audition process in which the organizers reviewed past videos of us posted online. We joined others from around the world in a choir of 200 singing Messiah on the stage of historic Carnegie Hall! It was certainly a memorable trip. Listen to the interview with Phil Witzig after the trip on WPEO radio.