Today we’d like to introduce you to Cleveland Chamber Choir Gregory Ristow, Artistic Director; And Kira McGirr, Executive Director.
Hi Cleveland Chamber Choir, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
The Cleveland Chamber Choir was founded in 2015 to bring professional choral artistry to Northeast Ohio. Over the past ten years, we have grown from an unknown fledgling arts organization with unpaid professional musicians to a mid-sized arts organization with equitably paid professional musicians, a full board, and multiple part-time staff members, frequently collaborating with other professional arts and music organizations in the region, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Playhouse Square, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, the Musical Theatre Project, Cleveland Composers Guild, the Local 4 Musicians Union, and many more. All of the ensemble’s members are professional singers who currently reside in Northeast Ohio. In 2023, Gregory Ristow was named our second Artistic Director and Conductor, and the choir has flourished under his leadership.
The choir was named the “Choir of the World” by the World Choir Festival (2021); and won second place in the 2022 American Prize Competition for both the Choral Performance Professional Division and the Ernest Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music. In 2023, the Choir was one of 37 ensembles selected to perform at the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association, and was the only professional ensemble selected to perform at the Ohio Music Education Association Conference in February 2025. We are named Artists in Residence at Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, a residency that will continue for our 2025/26 Season.
Since our founding, the choir has won acclaim for our inclusive programming, for its commitment to social awareness and advocacy, for partnering with community charities, and for the free concerts that ensure everyone can afford to hear world-class professional choral singing. Throughout our first ten seasons, the mission of the Cleveland Chamber Choir has stayed the same: to nurture and amplify the strength and resonance of Northeast Ohio’s choral artistry.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Creating and funding a non-profits arts organization is no easy task. Much credit goes to our co-founders Melissa Vandergriff and Scott MacPherson for beginning an organization with strong roots that have enabled our successful upward trajectory. We were able to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, when all live singing stopped for many months. One of our greatest challenges has always been balancing our small arts organization budget with the costs of meaningful, interesting performances, hiring the highest caliber of musicians available, and creating impactful advertising. We are grateful to the local, state, and national grants we have received, especially from Ohio Arts Council, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, The Gund Foundation and the Cleveland Foundation. We are very dependent upon the generosity of our audience and donors, both in terms of providing funding and being our best ambassadors to help grow our audience. In a time when grant funding is tenuous, it is our local audience and donors that will see us through.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As the region’s premier professional choir, the choir provides audiences with exceptional performances of unique and diverse repertoire, blending music by living composers with nine centuries of choral repertoire, and emphasizing the works of composers historically excluded from the concert hall. We have commissioned and/or given premieres of over 38 works.
Our audiences are music lovers across the region, not limited by how much they can afford to pay for tickets, as all of our concerts are presented on a “pay what you wish” model. They call our performances “a wonder-filled experience” and “powerful and impactful”.
“Rarely have I been moved to the point of tears by a live choir. To say that this ensemble is something special is an understatement. The artistry, the people, the way they speak the language of music is simply breathtaking. This is a world-class ensemble that understands the power of music.”
In 2018, we committed to partnering with local charitable organizations, making connections between our music and their missions, directing a portion of our “pay what you wish” tickets to our charitable partners. We raise awareness of their missions by sharing information about our partners in our advertising and outreach, and invite staff to speak at our concerts. Since these partnerships began, we have donated over $20,000 to local charitable organizations, including Ghetto Therapy, Re:Source Cleveland, the QYou program at the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, the Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center, The Music Settlement, the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, and more.
Under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Ristow, the Cleveland Chamber Choir brings together performing artists, administrators, audience members, and donors with the philosophy that choral music is a vehicle for good in the world that should be accessible and welcoming to all.
“Thanks for your creative, collaborative programming and excellent performances. Amazing, exquisite blend of voices. I hope to support future concerts and corresponding philanthropic missions. Thank you for adding to the rich and diverse heritage of music in NEO.”
We strive to foster intentional partnerships that connect cutting-edge music performances with social justice issues that affect all of us. This sets us apart in our community and beyond.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
We’re always in the process of planning our next season, listening to music, looking at scores, searching for the next great piece for us to sing. Frequently, what we’re listening to is what is up next, or what we’re wanting to program for the future.
In December 2024 we performed David Lang’s “The Little Match Girl Passion”, a phenomenal and heart-breaking modern-day cantata on the 1845 Hans Christian Andersen story. In March 2025, we gave a concert devoted to the music of the Renaissance-era trailblazing Italian composer Salamone Rossi. Much of the music sung at that concert is rarely performed, and some may not have been heard for centuries!
Looking ahead, we’re planning concerts with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s beloved “All-Night Vigil, Op. 37” and Reena Esmail’s “A Winter Breviary”, as well as Benjamin Britten’s “Flower Songs” and Morten Lauridsen’s “Chansons des Roses.” We may also have a few surprises up our sleeves!
Pricing:
- Our concerts are presented with “pay what you wish” tickets, ensuring access for all to professional choral singing
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.clevelandchamberchoir.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clechamberchoir/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClevelandChamberChoir
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clevelandchamber-choir
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@clevelandchamberchoir5729
