Orlando Sings opens America-centric festival with passion, beauty | Review
The fifth Orlando Sings Choral Festival opened Saturday night, but the organization is focused on a much bigger milestone than its five years of existence. The programs in this year’s festival, titled “Threads of Freedom,” focus on the 250th birthday of the United States and on American ideals such as liberty and justice for all.
Tuesday night, the organization will present its America250 concert in Steinmetz Hall, but Saturday got the party started with a pair of thrilling programs in the Pugh Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando.
The afternoon concert, titled “Voice and Flame,” featured the organization’s Solaria Singers and a chamber orchestra. It paid tribute to America by, in some cases, showing us what America is not - or at least, not supposed to be.
The program opened with French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s “Te Deum,” written during the reign of extravagant King Louis XIV, the “Sun King” who created an absolute monarchy that nearly a century later our Founding Fathers would painstakingly avoid replicating.
Conducted by Andrew Minear, the famous prelude had the right blend of bounce and grandeur. The other movements carefully balanced individual singers, small groups and the might of the whole chorus with the instrumentalists.
Trumpeter John Copella beautifully let loose on movement 6 - and how could he not, when the chorus is exulting that Jesus “overcame the sting of death and opened wide the Kingdom of Heaven to those who believe in you.”
The singers nicely found a more subdued tone for the penultimate movement, asking for the Lord’s mercy, before the triumph of the finale: “In you, O Lord, I rest my hope.”
Glorious as it was, “Te Deum” was just a warm-up for the stunning masterpiece that is Veljo Tormis’s “Curse Upon Iron,” written when the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain descended upon the composer’s native Estonia.
The terror of authoritarianism came through as the choir spit out words in Estonian, echoing the fear of the soloists. Throughout, a beating drum created an ominous noise, with the tension in the music becoming almost unbearable. The singers descended into literal screams until the drum chillingly silenced their voices. A potent warning, enhanced by the use of red stage lighting.
Francis Poulenc’s “Liberté,” written while the Nazis occupied his native France, read as a love letter - not romantic, but idealistic. And when the composition’s final word of “Liberté” was sung, the warmth of that chord lit up the room.
The program concluded with four dynamic African-American spirituals, forged in slavery - and a stark reminder that even from its start, the nation fell short in the ideal of freedom. The male voices served as the percussion in “The Battle of Jericho,” while “We Shall Walk Through the Valley” provided calm reassurance. Vocal swells enlivened “Good News, the Chariot’s Comin'” and led to an exuberant finale of “Walk Together, Children.”
Saturday’s evening concert was woman-focused with Andrea Ramsey’s “Suffrage Cantata” as its centerpiece. With historical narration by Aretha Rodney and color from soloist Samantha Barnes Daniel, the all-woman Harmonia choir performed the piece, which traces the history of the American women’s suffrage movement.
Directed by Sandra Shafer, the work captures the scope and scale of the fight for women’s voting rights, and the singers found the drama inherent in the music - although things got a bit carried away in the closing moments when the audience is asked to listen to the singers, soloist, narration and swelling chamber orchestra all at the same time.
Also on the bill: Alexandra Olsavsky’s “What Happens When a Woman” got things off to a rousing start, as conducted by Sydney Leduc, with stomping feet and snapping fingers as the singers passed the melody around.
For the finale: A joyful “Still I Rise,” composed by Rosephanye Powell with inspiration from Maya Angelou. Not only were the singers - led by radiant soloist Cecilia Skrocki - filled with joy, you could hear the strength behind every note.
Stay tuned for Tuesday.
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Find more entertainment news and reviews at orlandosentinel.com/entertainment or sign up to receive our weekly emailed Entertainment newsletter.
Next up
• What: The Orlando Sings Choral Festival continues with ‘Celebrate 250 Years of the United States,’ a concert to mark the nation’s semiquincentennial.
• Where: Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave. in Orlando
• When: 7:30 p.m. May 19
• Cost: $41.01 and up
• Info:drphillipscenter.org
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This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 6:22 AM.