Support our performances!
GCU strives to provide our student professional-level performance opportunities. Towards this aim, our performances cost between $500 to $15,000 to produce. We invite you to support our performances by donating today. Support our students by donating towards a portion of our productions. Special sponsorship opportunities include underwriting the cost of each major performances for the year.2024-2025 Masterworks Concert Series
Note from the Assistant Dean of Music:
Grand Canyon University offers a great variety of concerts during the year. From our flagship Masterworks Concert Series to instrumental ensembles and jazz to contemporary worship events, our concert programs reflect the breadth and depth of our music department. Our students perform in various venues throughout the Phoenix Metro area, including some of the most beautiful churches in town and some of the most iconic venues, such as The Nash Jazz Club. Our ensembles include the Canyon Choral Society, which most often performs with guest artists The Canyon Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez, Music Director and Conductor, The Canyon Chorale, Critical Mass, the GCU Wind Ensemble, The GCU Thunder Jazz Band, as well as a variety of smaller instrumental ensembles and vocal soloists. We invite you to come and enjoy a great variety of music while supporting music and the arts at GCU!
Masterworks Concert Series
Grand Canyon University’s Masterworks Concert Series features some of the great works of literature. Our aim is to explore the human condition through our music, always from a distinctively Christian Worldview.
The 2024 season features many works, from choral anthems, African American spirituals, and smaller choral works to some of the great works of the Oratorio and Choral Symphonic repertories. Highlights include the Arizona premiere of American Composer Dan Forrest’s new oratorio Creation, our annual Messiah performances, both sing-along and concert formats, two works that speak of loss of life from two very different perspectives: The Sacred Veil and The Lost Birds, and two significant choral symphonic works: Vaughan Williams Donna Nobis Pacem & Mårten Jansson Requiem Novum. The season will also feature our audience favorites, “Songs of Our Faith” and “Broadway, Opera, and All That Jazz” concerts, as well as our flagship vocal ensemble, Critical Mass in Concert.
We trust that our performances will strengthen your faith and encourage your heart as we share our gift of music with you.
Dr. H
Thursday,
September 26, 7:00 PM
First United Methodist Church The
Weekday School: 5510 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85013
The concert features Critical Mass
Critical Mass is a traveling vocal
ensemble with a strong emphasis on Christian character, student leadership, and
music, which promotes the university's espoused Christian mission and the music
department's vision. The ensemble sings various repertories, from early music
to contemporary choral music, gospel, jazz, contemporary Christian music, a
cappella, pop, and Broadway. The ensemble performs both on campus and on the
road at a variety of functions, with a focus on service, representing Grand
Canyon University at churches, schools, civic functions, special events, and
other venues. This upcoming concert will include a variety of selections
representative of the broad repertory that Critical Mass performs.
Songs of Our Faith
Sunday, October 6, 6:00 PM
Bellevue Heights Church: 9440 W. Hutton
Dr. (Corner of Burns & Hutton) Sun City, AZ 85351
The Concert features The Canyon Chorale
and Critical Critical Mass, Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez, Music Director and
Conductor
This event features The Canyon Chorale
and Critical Mass Vocal Ensemble performing music exploring our faith and life
journeys, including some great hymns of the faith, traditional African American
spirituals, gospel music, and recently composed selections.
Songs of Our Faith
Thursday, October 10, 7:00 PM
Valley Presbyterian Church: 6947 E.
McDonald Dr., Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
The Concert features The Canyon Chorale
and Critical Critical Mass, Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez, Music Director and
Conductor
This event features The Canyon Chorale
and Critical Mass Vocal Ensemble performing music exploring our faith and life
journeys, including some great hymns of the faith, traditional African American
spirituals, gospel music, and recently composed selections.
Dan Forrest Creation
Sunday, October 27, 3:00 PM
La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church: 6300 E. Bell Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85254
The concert features the Canyon Choral
Society with guest artists, including The Canyon Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Juan
de Dios Hernandez, Music Director and Conductor
Come and enjoy the Arizona Premiere of
American composer Dan Forrest's new Oratorio Creation.
Dr. Forrest writes, “…It seems like
there’s only one great Creation oratorio, and it’s from the 18th century. It’s
terrifying and presumptuous to say, ‘I want to write a 21st-century version
alongside Haydn’s, but I wanted to capture the beauty of life on this planet
and the wonder of its origin in my own musical language. In a sense, it’s a
score to my own mental Planet Earth film – of beauty that I’ve encountered both
at home and in my travels abroad. I hope this work overwhelms its listener with
the wonder and joy that still shines through in our world.”
11th Annual Handel’s Messiah (Sing-Along)
Friday, December 6, 7:00 PM
La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church: 6300
E. Bell Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85254
The concert features The Canyon Choral
Society with guest artists The Canyon Symphony Orchestra and Mr. Mark Fearey,
Harpsichord. Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez, Music Director and Conductor
Your favorite holiday tradition returns!
Handel’s oratorio celebrates the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We will sing through the Christmas portion and the Hallelujah Chorus for the
sing-along version. Come and join us. Bring your score. Scores will be
available for purchase as well.
11th Annual Handel’s Messiah (Concert)
Sunday, December 8, 6:00 PM
Bellevue Heights Church: 9440 W. Hutton Dr. (Corner of Burns & Hutton) Sun City, AZ 85351
Concert
featuring the Canyon Choral Society with guest artists The Canyon Symphony
Orchestra, Mr. Mark Fearey, Harpsichord. Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez, Music
Director and Conductor
Your
favorite holiday tradition returns! Handel’s oratorio celebrates the life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The acclaimed and popular “Hallelujah”
chorus is the centerpiece of this unique spiritual concert.
A GCU Christmas
Thursday,
December 12, 7:00 PM
Valley Presbyterian Church: 6947 E.
McDonald Dr., Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
Come and join us as we celebrate the
birth of our Saviour! This concert will feature a great selection of Christmas
favorites.
The Sacred Veil and The Lost Birds
La
Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church: 6300 E. Bell Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Concert featuring the Canyon Chorale,
Critical Mass, with guest artists The Canyon Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Mark
Fearey, and Piano. Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez, Music Director and Conductor
This concert features two works that
speak of the loss of life from two different perspectives. The Lost Birds is a
musical memorial to bird species driven to extinction by humankind. Sweeping
and mournful, it's a haunting tribute to those soaring flocks that once filled
our skies but whose songs have since been silenced. It celebrates their
feathered beauty: their symbolism as messengers of hope, peace, and renewal.
But it's also a warning about our tenuous existence on the planet: the fate
that befell these once-soaring flocks foreshadows our extinction. Composer Eric
Whitacre writes of his work: “The Sacred Veil is a 12-movement work and the
most recent collaboration between Eric Whitacre and poet/lyricist Charles
Anthony Silvestri telling a story of life, love, and loss. Silvestri’s wife,
Julie, died of ovarian cancer at age 36 in 2005, leaving two young children.
Including Silvestri, Whitacre, and Julie's texts, the intimate, compelling
score tells a story of courtship, love, loss, and the search for solace.
Although inspired by this extraordinary friendship, the piece does not mention
Julie by name and shares a human journey that so many of us can relate to.”
Broadway, Opera, and all that Jazz
Thursday, March 6, 7:00 PM
Valley Presbyterian Church: 6947 E. McDonald Dr., Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
A concert featuring The Canyon Chorale,
Critical Mass, and student soloists performing opera, Broadway, and jazz
favorites. Mr. Mark Fearey, Piano. Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez, Music Director
and Conductor
Broadway, Opera, and all that Jazz
Friday, March 21 ,7:00 PM
Paradise Valley United Methodist Church:
4455 E. Lincoln Dr., Paradise Valley, AZ
A concert featuring The Canyon Chorale, Critical Mass, and student soloists performing opera, Broadway, and jazz favorites. Mr. Mark Fearey, Piano. Dr. Juan de Dios Hernandez, Music Director and Conductor
Vaughan Williams Donna Nobis Pacem & Mårten Jansson Requiem Novum
Thursday, April 10, 7:00 PM
La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church: 6300
E. Bell Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85254
The concert features the Canyon Choral
Society with guest artists, including The Canyon Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Juan
de Dios Hernandez, Music Director and Conductor
The concert features two works that
masterfully combine ancient texts with contemporary ones. Both works speak to
the realities of today's world. Vaughan Williams wrote his plea for peace by
referring to recent wars during the growing fears of a new one. He used texts
from the Mass, three poems by Walt Whitman, a political speech, and sections of
the Bible.
Requiem Novum: A Response of Hope and
Wonder, a new significant work for chorus and
orchestra, written by Swedish composer Mårten Jansson and American lyricist
Charles Anthony Silvestri, features the familiar movements of the Latin Requiem
Mass, with new poetry in response to each movement, but from the perspective of
the dead. The entire work moves from the mass movements' sad, melancholy, and
even fearful tones to responses of hope and wonder as those we mourn reveal the
peace, redemption, and sheer wonder of their new reality beyond the veil of
eternity. This will be the Arizona premiere of this work. Requiem Novum
expresses our grief and hope for eternal life and provides an opportunity for
those we have lost to comfort us.
Best of the year
Tuesday, April 22, 7:00 PM
First United Methodist Church The
Weekday School: 5510 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85013
Come and join us as we celebrate the
class of 2025! This concert will feature some of our favorite selections
performed during the year and many graduating seniors.
Critical Mass in Concert
Sunday, April 27, 6:00 PM
Bellevue Heights Church: 9440 W. Hutton
Dr. (Corner of Burns & Hutton) Sun City, AZ 85351
Critical Mass is a traveling vocal
ensemble with a strong emphasis on Christian character, student leadership, and
music, which promotes the university's espoused Christian mission and the music
department's vision. The ensemble sings various repertories, from early music
to contemporary choral music, gospel, jazz, contemporary Christian music, a
cappella, pop, and Broadway. The ensemble performs both on campus and on the
road at a variety of functions, with a focus on service, representing Grand
Canyon University at churches, schools, civic functions, special events, and
other venues. This upcoming concert will include a variety of selections
representative of the broad repertory that Critical Mass performs.
*Grand Canyon University is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, Tax ID #47-2507725. Gifts may be tax deductible, please consult your tax professional.