Sacra Nova Chorale

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Sacra Nova Chorale

A Milwaukee-based ensemble presenting traditional and contemporary sacred choral music

11/24/2025

This week, we would like to spotlight Sacra Nova Chorale's Artistic Director, Dr. John Bragle! Dr. Bragle is a passionate music educator, singer, researcher, and arts advocate with more than twenty years of teaching experience in public and private school music programs, higher education, and community-based music settings. He serves as the Senior Director of Education at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.

More recently, he served as the Director of Choirs and Instructor of Voice at the Interlochen Arts Academy, a premiere boarding arts school in Michigan. While at Interlochen, choirs under his direction have performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Traverse Symphony Orchestra, and Interlochen’s World Youth Symphony Orchestra in venues such as Lincoln Center, DAR Constitution Hall, and Detroit’s Orchestra Hall.

In addition to establishing partnerships that connected Interlochen to the community through performance and collaborative learning, he also led efforts to increase the diversity of curricular materials and highlight more inclusive best practices for faculty.

Dr. Bragle will be leading the chorale in our upcoming Christmas concerts, entitled, Christmas in the City, December 12th and 13th, showcasing sounds of the season. And if you love to sing, please bring your beautiful voice to join us in singing some of your favorite carols. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit our website, www.sacranovachorale.com. See you soon!

11/22/2025

Join us this December at Sacra Nova Chorale's Christmas concert, "Christmas in the City!"

You will have two opportunities to attend this seasonal treat: Friday, December 12, at 7:00 p.m. at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church or Saturday, December 13, at 3:00 p.m. at Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church.

Come and be touched by the joyous sounds of the season — you won't want to miss it! For more information and to secure tickets, visit www.sacranovachorale.com

10/30/2025

You are invited to attend Sacra Nova Chorale's upcoming Christmas concerts, titled, Christmas in the City!

Composer Paul Salerni's arrangement of "Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle" will be featured, alongside Christmas classics, some of which include audience participation, and other gorgeous seasonal works that will make your holidays brighter. Mr. Salerni will be attending both concerts himself, too!

Dr. John Bragle returns as Artistic Director, and the choir will be accompanied by pianist, Katherine Turner Gutionov.

For more information, and to secure tickets, visit: www.sacranovachorale.com

Also, if you haven't done so already, please vote for Sacra Nova Chorale for Best of Milwaukee 2025 at: https://bom25.shepherdexpress.com/arts-and-entertainment/choral-group-under-60-performers

10/01/2025

We hope to see you for our upcoming fall concert! Information and QR code, below.

For more info: www.sacranovachorale.com

- Sacra Nova Chorale

09/16/2025

Sacra Nova Chorale is excited to present sacred works that will deepen understanding and provide joy this fall season. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit: www.sacranovachorale.com.

“The Peaceable Kingdom” will be featured in 2 concerts with the same repertoire on Friday, October 24th at 7 pm at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and on Sunday, October 26th at 4 pm at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring 2 composition premieres by Kilstofte and Lynch, along with works by Thompson, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. The concerts will be led under the direction of our Artistic Director, Dr. John Bragle, with string quartet, organ, harpsichord, and piano accompaniment.

06/28/2025

Sacra Nova Chorale was thrilled to sing for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi at Blessed Sacrament! Photos courtesy of Jenifer McGill.

03/20/2025

We are thrilled to once again be partnering with special guest artists from Milwaukee Musaik - Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra for our upcoming concert, "And I Saw A New Heaven," held on Sunday, March 30th at 6 pm at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, led under our Artistic Director, Joe Smaldino. Musaik members will be featured on Matthew Coleridge's "And I Saw A New Heaven" from his Requiem, John Rutter's Requiem, and on the final two movements of Handel's Messiah. We receive so many positive remarks after each collaborative concert we hold regarding Musaik players' fantastic musicianship. For further concert details, visit: https://www.sacranovachorale.com/

Furthermore, you will not want to miss Musaik's upcoming concert, "GUITAR GRANDMASTER, Rene Izquierdo!" held on Saturday, May 17th at 7 pm at Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church, featuring Izquierdo himself. A Milwaukee favorite, the renowned virtuoso will dazzle listeners in concertos by Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Vivaldi. The program also includes Ottorino Respighi’s exquisite musical pictorial, “Trittico Botticelliano," and Jacques Ibert’s witty, “Divertissement”! For further concert details, visit: https://www.milwaukeemusaik.org/

Our "And I Saw A New Heaven" concert will feature concertmaster, Alexander Ayers (violin), with Sascha Mandl (violin), Alejandro Duque (viola), Peter Szczepanek (cello), Kelsey Molinari (harp), Heather Zinninger (flute), Kevin Pearl (oboe), and Alex Chao (glockenspiel). Joining the Musaik artists for the concert will be Agnieszka Kosmecka (organ), and Terry Smirl (timpani).

03/17/2025

This week, we would like to spotlight a composer featured on our upcoming concert, John Milne, whom will be in attendance, and whose work, "Take Now Thy Son, Thine Only Son," will receive its world premiere by the chorale! Born in the U.S. to British immigrant parents, Milne grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and has lived in Chicago for the past 25 years.

After a long career writing, arranging, and singing pop (The Toons, two-time Gold Cabaret Award winners and early MTV act), alt-country (Long Gone Lonesome Boys, with over one million iTunes and Spotify downloads) and a ca****la (with three-time Harmony Sweepstakes winners, Chicago Voice Exchange), he has turned to composing more serious choral music in recent years, becoming a published and commissioned composer and winning numerous national and international composition contests.

About the featured composition and Milne's creative process: "I've always been moved by the story of Abraham and Isaac, but I did an internet search and found very few, if any, hymns having to do with it. All but the last verse of the text consists basically of a rhyming version of the Genesis 22 account. In the closing verse, I've tied that story to Christ's birth and sacrifice. Once I have a text, I can hear an appropriate melody for it in my head, and then it's just a matter of writing it down and working out the harmonization. In this case, I've tried for a very traditional English hymn style, sort of grim, like the story itself."

The concert, "And I Saw A New Heaven," will be held on Sunday, March 30th at 6 pm at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Milwaukee, led under our Artistic Director, Joe Smaldino. For more details, visit: https://www.sacranovachorale.com/

03/13/2025

Chorale members have been preparing solos as the ensemble continues to refine its sound for our upcoming concert, “And I Saw A New Heaven,” which features music that we believe will inspire deep reflection, thought, and hope for audience members.

The concert will be held on Sunday, March 30th at 6 pm at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, featuring organ, timpani, and special guest artists from Milwaukee Musaik - Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, together led under the direction of our Artistic Director, Joe Smaldino. It is a concert not to be missed! For details, visit: https://www.sacranovachorale.com/

03/10/2025

We are very excited for our upcoming concert, “And I Saw A New Heaven”! This week, we would like to spotlight our rehearsal pianist, Katherine Mary Turner, whom joined us for the 2024-2025 season and is fantastic to work with!

Katherine, an Omaha, Nebraska native, relocated to Milwaukee in the fall of 2023. She completed a Performer’s Certificate in Collaborative Piano at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the spring of 2023. She holds a Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and is a magna cm laude graduate from the University of Nebraska in Omaha.

In addition to being an excellent rehearsal pianist for Sacra Nova Chorale, Katherine enjoys a busy career of teaching and freelancing. She teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, and plays for the Milwaukee Ballet. When not at the piano, Katherine enjoys scuba diving, horseback riding, and running.

Address

3100 S 41st St
Milwaukee, WI
53215-4027

Website

http://www.sacranovachorale.com/

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