Three years ago, Coro Mundi, the choir that The Philadelphia Inquirer praised for its “ambition, depth of emotion and technical excellence” delivered a magical performance at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. Now Coro Mundi is set to return to the city for the first time since that concert, and once again they’ve chosen a venue in Northwest Philadelphia for a performance that their Music Director and Conductor Stephen Kushner, a Lafayette Hill resident who lived for many years in Mount Airy, calls “a homecoming.”

On Sunday, Oct. 13, at 5 p.m., Coro Mundi will present another bold program of choral music – this time featuring premieres of two new works by American composer Alex Berko – at St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church, a beautiful and acoustically warm space located at 109 E. Price St. in Germantown. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from the sale of tickets ($25, available in advance at coromundi.org) will go to Face to Face Germantown, a nonprofit that provides fresh, hot meals and legal, health and social services to local families and individuals experiencing poverty.

The centerpiece of the program will be the Philadelphia premiere of Berko’s “Sacred Place,” a six-movement work for choir, piano, violin and cello that Berko calls “an impassioned prayer for the world we inhabit and share.” 

“‘Sacred Place’ is an ecological service that connects the old with the new, the sacred with the secular and the individual with the community,” says Berko, a young composer whose music has been described as “stirring” (The New York Times), “intoxicating” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and “disarmingly beautiful” (Textura).

The choir also will sing the world premiere of Berko’s “Limits of Your Longing,” commissioned for the occasion by Coro Mundi, as well as works by Palestrina, Edwin Fissinger, Marek Raczynski and others.

“Coro Mundi gets its name from its members – highly skilled and passionate singers from around the world who gather annually to rehearse and perform together,” Kushner says. “The singers are a mix of committed professionals and exceptional amateurs. What binds us is a deep love of choral music.”

The Oct. 13 performance will bring together 32 of Coro Mundi’s finest U.S.-based singers. Although some will be coming from as far away as Boston, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco, about half of the singers are from Greater Philadelphia, and many have connections to the Germantown neighborhood where St. Vincent de Paul Church has been located since the founding of the parish in 1851. Six of the Coro Mundi members who will be singing on Oct. 13 were members of the choir at Germantown Friends School, where Kushner was the choir director and a music teacher for many years.

One of the choir’s GFS alumni is Julian Dorsey ’15, a Coro Mundi member since the choir made its debut in Italy as the Orvieto Festival Choir in 2018. Dorsey, a native of East Falls whose extended family has been part of the fabric of Germantown for several generations, recently moved to Baltimore. For him, Coro Mundi’s return to sing in Northwest Philadelphia will be a powerful experience.

“It feels really good to be back,” Dorsey says. “I’m excited to share this kind of music, this level of musicianship, this energy and this community with my family, my friends and all the other people I know in Philadelphia.”

Dorsey, Kushner and others who’ve performed many times in the city also look forward to singing here because they know Philadelphia audiences love choral music.

“Philadelphia audiences don’t just appreciate music,” said Dorsey, who has performed all over the city, from the Kimmel Center’s Marian Anderson Hall to neighborhood churches. “They’re connected with music. They’re engaged.”

That sense of connection with audiences is a big part of what drives Coro Mundi, says Kushner.

“Our music’s common thread is the potential to open hearts and inspire connection with our audiences and with one another,” he says. “We’re all looking forward to experiencing that connection again.”

An informal preview performance of the program will take place in the Poconos on Saturday, October 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Bryn Mawr Mountain Retreat & Conference Center, located at 593 Bryn Mawr Rd. in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Last weekend, Kushner announced that Coro Mundi will be holding their next international festival in Reykjavik, Iceland from July 19 to 27, 2025.

“Our homebase for rehearsals and the venue for one of our three performances will be Harpa, one of Reykjavik’s most striking landmarks and a center of cultural and social life in the heart of the city,” Kushner said. “Still making plans for next summer? Consider joining us in Iceland!”