Illumine Vocal Arts Ensemble was founded in the fall of 2013 by Dr. Tony Thornton, then the director of choirs at UMass Amherst. It was originally named Illuminati, and its mission was and is to present choral performances of outstanding quality, range, and inspiration to our larger community. We perform revered masterworks and new compositions, alone and in collaboration with other area groups, in ticketed concerts and as benefits or sing-alongs.
In spring of 2022, Dr. Thornton joined the faculty of Oklahoma State University. Now in our twelfth season we are delighted to work under the baton of Artistic Director Dr. Arianne Abela. A superbly trained, expressive and dynamic conductor, she brings a fresh perspective to our project.
We are very proud of the reputation Illumine has built among area music-lovers, and with your help we will continue to brighten the air.
“Performances at the level of Illuminati's give the listener a clear window into the composer's soul.” - Clifton Noble Jr, The Republican, Oct. 15, 2016
| 2025-6 Board of Directors | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Albritton, President |
Lawrence Winship, Treasurer |
Anisa Schardl, Clerk |
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| Dr. Arianne Abela, Artistic Director (ex officio) |
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| Members at Large | ||||
| Virginia Bailey | Gregory Hayes | Eleanor Lincoln | Sarah Metcalf | |
Third Place Winner, 2019-20 American Prize for Choral Excellence
a national juried choral competition
Arianne Abela is Director of Choral Activities at Amherst College and is founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, a renowned professional ensemble focused on early and new music with dedication to the intersection of racial, ethnic and gender diversity, and the intersection of arts and social justice. Kaleidoscope has performed as a headliner at ACDA, Podium in Canada, and other renowned festivals and conferences.
Abela has served on conducting faculty at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, and is founder and of the Detroit Women's Chorus and Detroit Justice Choir, ensembles dedicated to social justice and community empowerment. Focusing her efforts on community building through song, Abela founded The House of Clouds and has worked closely with Musicians Take a Stand to organize over a dozen benefit concerts for charities and various causes across the country.
In the realm of opera, Abela has guest conducted opera productions with various Michigan-based opera companies including Detroit's OperaMODO, and serves as music director for Vancouver-based opera company, re:Naissance. Prior to her time in Detroit, Abela lived in Connecticut where she served on faculty at Wesleyan University, Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, The Westover School and Notre Dame High School in West Haven.
In 2012, Abela was featured conducting on NBC's Today Show and was a semi-finalist in Season 8 of America's Got Talent director of Connecticut-based 3 Penny Chorus and Orchestra. The ensemble later recorded for the soundtrack of the film Walk of Shame starring Elizabeth Banks.
Abela received her doctorate in conducting from the University of Michigan with Jerry Blackstone and Eugene Rogers, holds a master’s degree in choral conducting from Yale University with Marguerite Brooks, Jeffrey Douma, and Simon Carrington, and a bachelor of arts from Smith College. Abela sings professionally in ensembles across the United States and Canada such as Yale Choral Artists, sounding light, Etherea Vocal Ensemble, Arkora, and Audivi. Originally from the San Francisco bay area, she sang with the San Francisco Girls Chorus for many years.
Sunday, October 5, 2025, 2:30 PM
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College
Ad Manus, from Membra Jesu Nostri, Dieterich Buxtehude • “To the Hands,” Caroline Shaw • “Never weather beaten sail,” C. Hubert Parry • “Neither angels nor demons,” Tim Tachek • “and the swallow,” Caroline Shaw • “Réfugié, Mon Frère,” Sydney Guillaume • “I‘ll fly away,” Shawn Kirchner • “N-400 Erasure Songs (no. 2)” Melissa Dunphy • “Finlandia,” Sibelius • “This is my song (Finlandia),” arr. Blake Morgan
Followed by a reception featuring photos of works by artist Harriet Diamond
Sunday, November 2, 2025, 2:00 PM
First Churches, 129 Main Ste
Northampton
A collaborative choral celebration featuring organist Brett Maguire performing on First Churches' newly-refurbished Skinner organ; and soloists Liam Shannon, bass; and Sophie Michaux, mezzo<
Duruflé Requiem; C. Hubert Parry, “I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me”
Jonathan Dove, “Seek Him that maketh the seven stars”
Sunday, March 8, 2026, afternoon
Abbey Chapel, Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley
Dona Nobis Pacem, Vaughan Williams
with Amherst Concert Choir
and Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Sunday, May 17, 2026, afternoon
St. Brigid's Parish, 122 N Pleasant St, Amherst
Amherst
All-Night Vigil, Rachmaninoff
Do not reject me, Chesnokov (basso-profundo concerto featuring Glenn Miller)
Spaseniye, Chesnokov
Entrance into the ensemble is by audition only (see audition process below). Dr. Abela seeks singers with considerable choral experience. While perfect sight reading is not required, all singers must fully prepare repertoire before the first rehearsal. Illuminati makes music from the beginning.
If you are interested, please complete the form here and we will email you an audition confirmation with possible times when auditions reopen.
Audition Process:
The audition takes approximately ten minutes. Singers will be asked to prepare a simple one-minute piece of their choosing, and perform scales using a variety of articulations (legato, staccato, and marcato) and dynamics to demonstrate color, range, quality, and flexibility. A segment of the audition will emphasize sight-reading and tonal memory (with accompaniment).
If you have any questions, please email illumineChoir@gmail.com.
Music is a primal art, central to every human culture, and singing is its most primal form: unmediated by any instrument, rising directly from our lungs, throats and souls.
But from this primal simplicity an extraordinary body of compositions has emerged over the centuries – the choral literature that weaves many voices together into haunting and sonorous tapestries of sound – one of the highest achievements of human civilization.
The singers of Illuminati Vocal Arts Ensemble have prepared for our community concert programs of some of the most beautiful choral music ever written, because this music is our joy, a profound expression of the human spirit, and a light no darkness can put out.
Our concerts have been densely attended and keenly enjoyed. Clifton Noble wrote in his review of February 2018's Rachmaninov All-Night Vigil, “The breathless silence that blessed the cadence of the final movement before the church erupted in a lengthy standing ovation testified to the profound effect of the music on all those present.”
Though many of us are professional musicians, we are not paid for this work. We do pay our conductor, our accompanist, and other instrumentalists; we also pay for rehearsal and performance space.
The money you help us raise will allow us to continue to explore extraordinary repertoire rigorously and with passion.
To donate through PayPal, use this button:
or send a check to:
Illuminati Vocal Arts Ensemble
PO Box 1205
Amherst, MA 01004
Sarah Boy
Greg Brown & Mary Hubbell
Bruce & Wendy Durfee
Chris Krueger & Jane Bryden
Annie Philips
Ellen Story
Anonymous
Stephen & Suzanna Adams
Joanne Bollinger
K.C. Conlan
Benjiman Durfee
Martha & Newton Frohlich
Paul Knaplund
Bruce & Alexandra Lyman
Rebecca Markarian
Moshe Wurgaft
Robert & Silvia Brinkerhoff
Ronna & Neal Erickson
Sarah Metcalf
Edwin Wilfert
Philip Stoddard
Manuel & Susan Andrade
Shirley Griffin
Rachel Peterson & Roger Bird
Music has the power to move and inspire, to tell important stories, and to bring communities together. The Illuminati Vocal Arts Ensemble performs choral pieces and masterworks from all periods and styles, often in collaboration with other musical organizations throughout the Pioneer Valley. Our sold-out concerts attract a discerning audience that shares a passion for performance at the highest level. Noted pianist, composer and music reviewer Clifton Noble, Jr., recently complimented us as "the Valley's finest chorus."
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