Musichorale ‘Noel’ concert to put coda on choir’s 75-year run

Musichorale, a singing group that’s been led for 75 years by three generations of the Silhan family, will step onto the stage this weekend for what will likely be its last holiday performance.

“The combination of the pandemic and other factors have worked against the group to decrease our membership,” said director Sarah Silhan-Koehler, a granddaughter of group founder Arthur Silhan. “As they say, things just aren’t what they used to be.

“As of July 1, 2024, Musichorale will formally disband, and those members who would like to continue singing will likely join other community choirs in the neighborhoods where they live.”

Musichorale’s Noel Christmas Concert is scheduled for 3:20 p.m. Dec. 10 at the Harold L. Richards High School Performing Arts Center in Oak Lawn.

The group, which once had about 70 members, is down to about 35 since the pandemic, said Silhan-Koehler, who began directing the group in 2017.

She said she was honored to step into a role occupied by her ancestors.

“I won’t say that I also wasn’t incredibly nervous. There were very big shoes to fill following my dad and grandfather for so many years,” she said, noting there is “a lot of pride in our family name being associated with Musichorale for so many years.”

This year’s holiday concert will continue many of the group’s traditions, including opening with “The First Noel” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” and closing with Peter Lutkin’s “The Lord Bless You and Keep You,” which it has performed since 1947. That’s when Arthur Silhan, who had been in choir at Lindblom High School in Chicago, founded the group as a way to keep singing with former classmates. Originally known as the Lindblom Alumni A Cappella Choir, it soon became the Chicago Choral Club and then eventually Musichorale in 1957.

“We would never think of changing” the final song, Silhan-Koehler said. “We will be inviting all past members to join us on stage for that final benediction.”

It also will keep its unusual start time: 3:20, which was chosen by its founder so “people would remember it and be at the concert on time,” Silhan-Koehler explained.

The start time is not the only connection to the group’s past. Director Emeritus Jeffrey Silhan, Arthur Silhan’s son, will direct the majority of the concert.

“I feel like the choir has been ‘his’ for longer than it was mine, and for our last show, he deserves to be in the spotlight,” his daughter said. Jeffrey Silhan directed Musichorale for 37 years, starting in 1980.

In addition, Arthur Silhan’s daughter, Cindy Gansel, will play a piano medley of cantata excerpts from the full-length cantatas her mother, Phyllis Silhan, composed. Over time, Musichorale performed all of those cantatas.

“She wrote her music specifically for Musichorale, and she would not let it be published,” Gansel said. “When I think of mom’s music, one of her major cantatas was done in 1957. I was a year old. And my brothers were 4 and 5. It’s not just the accompaniment, it’s the words too. I look back, and she did that with little kids around.”

Gansel began singing with the group her father and mother founded when she was 8 years old, and she helped with administrative tasks such as mailings. “Musichorale, since I was born, was part of my life,” she shared, adding that she started accompanying the adult choir when she was 16.

She continued in that role for 25 years until niece Silhan-Koehler was ready to take over, although she still acted as backup. Gansel credits the group for her work as an organist and accompanist. “I have to be extremely grateful to my time in Musichorale because it made me so much better at what I do now,” she said.

She described the group as an “extended family” for its members because of how much time they spent signing together. “I think Musichorale touched a lot of people. I think a lot of people who didn’t have much else in their life made terrific friends and had social activities and a lot of laughing.”

Her husband, Keith Gansel, first sang with the choir in December 1972, having met his future wife’s family while he was in college. One brother was his roommate and her other brother lived across the hall. Art Silhan befriended the young man and talked him into joining Musichorale.

“I always liked to sing. I was in high school choir. I liked the music they were doing,” he said. “Her dad had a big impact on forming my adulthood. … I looked up to him and he liked me.”

“They were better buds before Keith and I went out,” Cindy Gansel joked.

Their three children joined the choir’s Miniatures group when they were 3.

He also remembered singing in downtown Chicago. “When I first joined, we had groups of close to 100 people going downtown to Christmas carol,” he said. “We’d walk all over the Loop and sing and people loved it.”

Another longtime Musichorale member, Leticia Loren, remembered spending “almost every night of the week” during December and parts of November singing with the group, including downtown. “Art was in Lyric Opera and had all kinds of contacts,” she said. “You couldn’t do anything else. It’s not as intense now.”

Loren, who’s been an alto in the group for at least 45 years, said her sister-in-law was one of the founding members along with the Silhans at Lindblom High School.

“Singing with this group is wonderful,” she shared, adding that the camaraderie is important. “The people with Musichorale are very professional. They learn their music and you enjoy singing because your harmony and everything blends well. To me it’s been a blessing.”

She said not using sheet music when performing is a key component to singing with the group. “Once you learn your music by memory, looking at a piece of paper is a distraction.”

Judy Venkus, who has been a member off and on for about 50 years, including its Miniatures group when she was a teenager, loves to sing with Musichorale. “We have a good bunch of people, good friendship. Music keeps us together. I keep coming back. There must be something that draws me back.”

Silhan-Koehler said the best aspect of being involved with Musichorale is the members. “They enjoy singing and being together for rehearsals, and most of them sing because they like that it makes them happy or forget about the things in their daily lives that are annoying or frustrating. It’s also been gratifying to sing music that I really do love.”

The full-time accompanist for Richards’ choral department said following in her family’s tradition has brought “a mix of emotions.”

“While I’ve been incredibly proud to continue to lead the group, we have faced challenges, especially the pandemic, which my dad and grandfather never had to face!”

Knowing the organization is coming to an end hasn’t been easy, either.

“I do have bittersweet feelings about the demise of the choir. While it has always been a great group of people and so many lifelong friendships have been sustained — there were even a few inter-member marriages — it is also a huge commitment for my parents and me,” she shared. “Few of the members realize the behind-the-scenes work it takes to run the organization. There are fewer and fewer members willing to take on the many jobs that maintain an organization like ours.”

Having older members also means it’s more difficult for them to attend rehearsal as they travel in retirement, and she’s simplified the music a bit to accommodate older voices that don’t have quite as much range or stamina to maintain “the same standard of excellence we had always tried to attain.”

“I truly feel that knowing when to call it a day is an important decision for the group. We’ll spend the spring season celebrating with a big event to commemorate our 75 years and we’ll plan our social events to include our members, patrons, and supporters. It’s been an amazing run, but this is the right time to wind down.”

Wrapping up the 2023-24 season by July first lines up with the group’s fiscal year, giving time for its finance experts to balance the books. Silhan-Koehler said the group’s original constitution from 1947 states that any funds left if the group dissolves will be given to charities such as what is now Park Lawn, Lambs Farm or Misericordia. Its leaders also have discussed having members suggest charities, but the money will be held in long-term accounts until a decision is made by the board, membership and financial advisers.

Tickets to the Christmas show cost $18 in advance or $20 at the door. Information is at www.musichorale.org.

Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.