As art groups return to the stage across the country, Chicago a cappella will perform “Coming Out of the Dark,” their second series of concert performances since March 2020.

The show will premiere from Feb. 11 to 20, with the Feb. 12 performance held in Evanston’s Nichols Concert Hall. Some of the featured songs are sourced directly from ensemble members, who will share their personal stories along with the songs that are important to them.

Ensemble member Chelsea Lyons (Bienen M.M. ’17) said the goal of the series is to acknowledge the challenges many singers have faced in the past two years as performances were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the series also serves to express the gratitude they feel as they perform together again.

Lyons added this will be her first time singing with Chicago a cappella since the beginning of the pandemic, so these performances are meaningful to her.

“This is kind of our reemergence and we really wanted to sing with our hearts in this program, as a way to express how grateful we are to be back on stage and to be making live music again,” Lyons said.

Artistic Director John William Trotter said the inspiration for this program came to him during a group meeting amid the pandemic, when everyone shared how they were feeling and what they were going through. Trotter said the group gets together and makes art to process these feelings.

He also said the name “Coming Out of the Dark” has several layers of meaning.

“In one sense, we’re coming out of the dark because the stages were dark. In another sense, we’re coming out of the winter,” Trotter said. “It’s also been a really dark time. The country’s mental health is at an all-time low.”

Ensemble member Ace Gangoso (Bienen M.M. ’12) said he joined Chicago a cappella soon after graduating from Northwestern. He was interested in the group because it sings a variety of genres in addition to classical music.

The group hopes to engage the audience through the series in an unconventional and personal way, Gangoso said, because singers will incorporate their own stories into the performances.

“This is the first time when we’re really tackling head-on some of the themes that came out of the past two years: struggles, lamenting, but also a little bit of joy and hope as well,” Gangoso said.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the degrees of Ace Gangoso and Chelsea Lyons. The Daily regrets the error.

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Twitter: @RaynaYu_Song

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