Elgin Symphony Orchestra and Elgin Master Chorale Perform Fauré’s “Requiem” and More, March 7 and 8

Featuring Guest Vocalists Laura Strickling, Soprano, and
 Jesse Blumberg, Baritone

(February 16, 2026, Elgin, IL) – The Elgin Symphony Orchestra continues its 76th Season Classics Series with a program of powerful choral music and theatrical drama on Saturday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 8, at 2:30 p.m., at The Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin. Led by ESO Music Director Chad Goodman, the orchestra is joined by the Elgin Master Chorale and guest vocalists Laura Strickling, soprano, and Jesse Blumberg, baritone, for a moving and multifaceted program featuring works by Valerie Coleman, Edvard Grieg, and Gabriel Fauré. It is Strickling’s second performance with the ESO, her first being in May 2024 when she joined the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth.

The concert opens with Coleman’s invigorating “Seven O’Clock Shout,” written during the COVID-19 pandemic as a tribute to frontline workers and the power of community. It continues with a special performance of handpicked selections from Edvard Grieg’s evocative music from “Peer Gynt”. The centerpiece of the evening is Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem,” a serene and transcendent setting of the mass that offers comfort and peace in its vision of eternal rest.

The Elgin Master Chorale, long-time collaborators with the ESO, brings its signature blend of clarity, power, and expressivity to this deeply spiritual program.

A Pre-Concert Talk by ESO Music Director Chad Goodman will take place one-hour prior to each concert.  

Tickets are available at ElginSymphony.org. Tickets start at $20. Continuing its commitment to making performances affordable and accessible to the community, the ESO offers discounted student tickets for $10 for those with a valid student ID, and free youth tickets for children age 17 and under with a paid adult ticket. Call the ESO Box Office at 847-888-4000 for more information and to include free youth tickets in your order. The ESO Box Office is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra was named Professional Orchestra of the Year in 2025 by the Illinois Council of Orchestras, which also awarded Goodman the Professional Conductor of the Year award.

The ESO’s 76^th Season is made possible through the generous support of donors, including Season Sponsors Otto® and Willow Springs Charitable Trust; Concert Sponsors Illinois Arts Council Agency, The Pepper Family Foundation, John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc., and the S.E. (Stu) Ainsworth Family; Contributing Sponsors: Elgin Symphony League, The Driskill Foundation, Barrington Area Community Foundation, Florence B. and Cornelia A. Palmer Foundation, Seigle Foundation, and the Francis J. and Patricia A. Houlihan Foundation; and Community Sponsors the City of Elgin, W.R. Meadows, ARK Technologies, Inc., and Epic Real Estate Group.

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About the Elgin Symphony Orchestra

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra is one of the preeminent regional orchestras in the United States, and is led by Chad Goodman, who was named the ESO’s Music Director – the fifth in the Orchestra’s history – in May 2023.

Since its founding in 1950, the organization has developed a reputation for artistic excellence, and innovative programming as demonstrated through its long history of highlighting the works of world-renowned conductors, composers, and musicians, and of promoting the advancement of women in the arts.

The ESO became a professional ensemble in 1985 in good part due to the leadership of the late Margaret Hillis, who served as the ESO’s music director from 1971 to 1985. Hillis was one of the first females to break through the male-dominated world of conducting and is credited with being the impetus behind the creation of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra Association, the formation of the ESO’s volunteer core – the Elgin Symphony League, and the start of the ESO’s commitment to music education and enrichment for youth.

Today, the ESO continues to draw its creativity and artistry from the Elgin area and gives back to the community through its Adopt-a-School program that provides supplemental music education and in-school performances to local schools; Musicians Care program that brings live music performances to local hospitals, hospices, and retirement homes; informational Listener’s Club events and other free programs at public libraries; In Harmony Program in places of worship; Ainsworth Concerts for Youth; free tickets for youth under 18; open rehearsals; and free community concerts throughout the region.

The Illinois Council of Orchestras has named the ESO “Professional Orchestra of the Year” five times (1988, 1999, 2005, 2016, and 2025), and named Goodman “Professional Conductor of the Year” in 2025.

The ESO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

To learn more or to support the ESO, visit www.elginsymphony.org.

About Laura Strickling

Two-time GRAMMY^® award nominee for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album, soprano Laura Strickling was recognized by The New York Times for her, “flexible voice, crystalline diction, and warm presence,” and is celebrated for her work performing and promoting art song, with an emphasis on new additions to the canon. She recently announced the 40@40 Project – her personal initiative to commission new songs – and has been featured twice in Classical Singer Magazine for her advocacy work in new music.

Ms. Strickling is celebrated for her work in modern opera, having created the role of Fanni Radnòti in the world premiere of Tom Cipullo’s opera The Parting with Music of Remembrance in Seattle and San Francisco in 2019. She revisited the role with Chelsea Opera in New York City and Syracuse. She created the role of the evil Dr. Slade in the nine-episode filmed opera, Everything for Dawn with Experiments in Opera, which received its AllArts and Opera Philadelpha broadcast premiere in 2022. An alumna of the Berkshire Opera Company resident artist program, her performance of the Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel was praised by Opera News: "Laura Strickling offered the creamy, clear, younger-sister-of-Eva-Pogner instrument ideal for singing the role over full orchestration." She appeared as Pamina in the Metropolitan Opera Guild's touring outreach production of The Magic Flute. Ms. Strickling’s operatic roles also include Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Cleopatra (Julius Caesar), Mimi (La boheme), Dinorah (Dinorah), Elvira (L’Italiana in Algeri), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), and Micaëla (Carmen).

Equally acclaimed for her work on the concert stage her, “powerful and expressive voice across a large range, her variety of timbre and character,” (Classical Scene), make her a welcome guest soloist for a range of oratorio and concert works, from Handel to Britten and beyond. These include Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the San Antonio Philharmonic and the Knoxville Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Seattle Symphony and the Elgin Symphony, Bachianas Brazileiras (Villa-Lobos) with the San Antonio Philharmonic, Messiah (Handel) with the Indianapolis Symphony, the Pacific Symphony, and the Richmond Symphony, Gloria (Poulenc) with the Asheville Symphony, Mass in c minor (Mozart) with the Richmond Symphony, Cathedral Choral Society, and Berkshire Choral International, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Barber) with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, Elijah (Mendelssohn) with Berkshire Choral International, Ein Deutsches Requiem (Brahms) with the Bel Canto Chorus, Luonnotar (Sibelius) and Les Illuminations (Britten) with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and Pierrot Lunaire (Schoenberg) with the Chiarina Chamber Players and the Mid-Atlantic Reed Consort.

Ms. Strickling received GRAMMY^® award nominations and widespread critical acclaim for her two solo albums, 40@40 (2024) and Confessions (2022): “…a compellingly honest performer, whose rich, expressive soprano conveys vulnerability with a balance of shimmering tone and unaffected diction,” (Opera News Magazine). She was praised for the Naxos Opera Classics recording of The Parting by Tom Cipullo, “…deeply expressive, secure voice. Her exposed highs are managed wonderfully, with notable beauty,” (San Francisco Classical Voice).

A Chicago native, Ms. Strickling is an avid traveler, having lived in Fez (Morocco), Kabul (Afghanistan), and for the last nine years in St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands). She recently relocated to Wisconsin where she is learning to appreciate cheese, beer, and being cold. www.laurastrickling.com

About Jesse Blumberg

Photo credit: Arielle Doneson Photography

Baritone Jesse Blumberg enjoys a busy schedule of opera, concerts, and recitals, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 20th and 21st centuries. He has performed featured roles at Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Boston Early Music Festival, Opera Atelier, and at Château de Versailles Spectacles and London’s Royal Festival Hall.

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Jesse has sung major concert works with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Boston Baroque, Carmel Bach Festival, Apollo’s Fire, Oratorio Society of New York, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and on Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. He has been increasingly active on concert stages in Canada for the last several years, appearing with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Early Music Vancouver, Arion Baroque, Grand Philharmonic Choir, and at the Montréal Baroque Festival.

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Jesse’s recital highlights include appearances with the New York Festival of Song, Marilyn Horne Foundation, and University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, in addition to teaching and performing residencies at song festivals across the United States. He is very proud to have participated in the world premieres of several acclaimed American operas and song cycles, and works closely with many renowned composers as a member of the Mirror Visions Ensemble.

He has been featured on nearly thirty commercial recordings, including the 2015 Grammy-winning and 2019 Grammy-nominated Charpentier Chamber Operas with Boston Early Music Festival. Jesse’s other albums include Bach cantatas with Montréal Baroque, Winterreise with pianist Martin Katz, Rosenmüller cantatas with ACRONYM, Green Sneakers with the Miami String Quartet, and St. John Passion with Apollo’s Fire, as well as American Bach Soloists’ 2015 film release Handel’s Messiah in Grace Cathedral.

Jesse received undergraduate degrees in History and Music from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, before participating in young artist programs at Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, the Ravinia Festival, and Chicago Opera Theater. His early career was buoyed by recognition in several competitions in the U.S. and Europe. In 2007 he took First Prize at the International Hilde Zadek Singing Competition in Vienna, and in 2008 he was awarded Third Prize at the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, becoming its first American prizewinner in over thirty years.

A passionate advocate for chamber music in its myriad forms, in 2007 Jesse co-founded Five Boroughs Music Festival in New York City and for twelve years served as its Artistic Director. In 2021 and 2022 he stepped into a Visiting Faculty position at The Cleveland Institute of Music, and continues to enjoy private teaching as well as the occasional masterclass and guest coaching engagement. Starting in Fall 2023, Jesse will be based in both Toronto and NYC, enthusiastically making musical connections across North America and beyond.