The Choral Arts Society of Southeastern Wisconsin (CAS) is an auditioned, volunteer, community chorus of over 60 members, established in 1987 by founder and Artistic Director, James Schatzman. In 2000, the organization’s name was changed to the Choral Arts Society of Southeastern Wisconsin to reflect broadened repertoire and larger geographical reach. The Choral Arts Society performs unique works of diverse genres, creating elevated choral experiences in the community. The CAS has commissioned new works, performed premieres, and seeks to be innovative while also honoring classic masterworks. By performing in accessible venues throughout the region, collaborating with local artists, and engaging local students as Guest Young Artists, the CAS demonstrates its commitment to enriching the cultural environment of the community.
“CAS Action for Equity”
The Choral Arts Society exists to celebrate the human spirit through music. And, it is in that spirit of respect and dignity that we strongly state our support for social justice. We stand with our community and other arts organizations to acknowledge the costs of systemic racism to us all. We affirm the power of the arts to be both windows and mirrors of the human story. We commit ourselves to using our art form in new ways as we live our mission with increasing understanding, inclusiveness, and empathy. Cornel West says, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” We say, “Singing with love births a more just world.”
Past Seasons
2025 – 2026 Season
Gospel Fusion
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Pre-Concert Event Included with Admission:
5:45 – 6:15PM “Harmonious Reunion” with Gospel Fusion Guest Artists D’AYCH & The Next Level Band
All concert attendees are welcome to this pre-concert panel discussion.
Composer Glenn Burleigh and the CAS have a 35-year history of electrifying performances. In a unique fusion of classical, gospel, jazz and contemporary styles, Alpha Mass weaves the traditional into the extraordinary. Let the Choral Arts Society, the Greater Mount Eagle Baptist Church Choir, and a thrilling gospel trio—D’AYCH & The Next Level Band—touch your soul!
A Candlelight Concert
In Collaboration with Music & More
Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Pre-Concert Event Included with Admission:
5:45 – 6:15 PM “It’s Not All Sugar Plumbs” with The Studio of Classical Dance Arts
All concert attendees are welcome to this pre-concert panel discussion.
Experience the beauty of word, dance, and music, surrounded by the magical light of hundreds of candles. The Choral Arts Society joins with Music & More in creating meditative moments of artistic serenity. Dancers from The Studio of Classical Dance Arts and singer Mark Paffrath add to the magic of the evening.
Fantasia!
Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Pre-Concert Event Included with Admission:
5:45 – 6:15PM “Beyond Fur Elise” with Fantasia Guest Artists Randy Bush and Nick Renkosik
All concert attendees are welcome to this pre-concert panel discussion.
The Choral Arts Society unleashes flights of fancy in the works of Faure, Bach, and Vaughan Williams. With its crashingly rebellious solo piano part, Fantasia on the Old 104th echoes the grandeur of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Pianist Randy Bush and Organist Nick Renkosik join the chorus for a resounding Fantasia, which will feature the newly renovated First Presbyterian Church organ and their wonderful Steinway grand piano, adding to the lyric beauty and vocal power of Racine’s finest chorus.
2024 – 2025 Season
Simply Folk
Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Pre-Concert Event Included with Admission:
5:45 – 6:30PM “Folk Ways” with Marytha Paffrath
All concert attendees are welcome to this pre-concert panel discussion.
Join the Choral Arts Society for an evening of the greatest folk songs ever written, performed by some of the best singer songwriters Racine has ever produced. Mark Paffrath and Zachary Scott Johnson will be joined by Marytha Paffrath—of the world music ensemble, Libana—who will return to Racine as they all join with CAS to present songs by Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and Joni Mitchell. Arrangements by Gregory Berg and a new composition by Carthage College’s Margaret Burk, Happy Are Those Who Sing With All Their Heart, will make this an unforgettable evening!
Lessons and Carols – Good Tidings of Great Joy
Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Pre-Concert Event Included with Admission:
5:45 – 6:30 PM “Speaking of Faith” with Lessons and Carols readers
All concert attendees are welcome to this pre-concert panel discussion.
Come and hear the good news of the Christmas story, told through timeless readings and beloved carols. We feature harpist Rebecca Royce and oboist Emily Knaapen in a potpourri of heavenly sounds. A festival of lessons and carols is a special CAS tradition. Enjoy a break from the holiday bustle and experience the true meaning of Christmas, featuring the music of American composers Jackson Berkey and Stephen Paulus. You’re warmly invited to listen and sing along.
Say It With Music – The Great American Songbook
Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Pre-Concert Event Included with Admission:
5:45 – 6:30PM “Speaking of Jazz” with Guest Young Artists from The Prairie School Jazz Combo, directed by Jamie Breiwick
All concert attendees are welcome to this pre-concert panel discussion.
Take a walk down memory lane as the CAS partners with Racine’s own Curt Hanrahan and his band OPUS. Saxophonist and educator, Curt Hanrahan performs with groups as varied as his own combos and as large as the Milwaukee Symphony, and he directs the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra. Revel in music from The Great American Songbook, created by Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, and Harold Arlen. From Broadway to the jazz hall, we will delight in some of America’s most memorable tunes—including Over the Rainbow, You’ll Never Walk Alone, Summertime, What A Wonderful World, I Got Rhythm, Georgia On My Mind, and Say it With Music—in arrangements that will fill your heart and bring you joy!
2023 – 2024 Season
The Cry: A Requiem for the Lost Child
Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Pre-Concert Events Included with Admission:
5:45 – 6:30PM Prairie School Art Chair Vicki Schmitz and CAS Associate Conductor Pat Badger will offer a hands-on session – Ukraine Children’s Art: The Art of Possibility In Times of Conflict.
6:00 – 6:30PM Dr. John Brug, Scholar, Editor, Archaeologist, and Pastor, will speak about Compassion for Children; Dr. Brug has spent time in Ukraine.
British Contemporary composer Adrian Snell created The Cry as an act of remembrance for those affected by the loss of life or childhood due to violence. With author Murray Watts, Snell has musically woven the authentic words of children, who have suffered war, conflict, and ethnic cleansing, within the Requiem structure. The Choral Arts Society (CAS) will offer this work in honor of and in solidarity with the civilian victims of the war in Ukraine. The program will be enhanced by the artwork of Ukrainian children impacted by the war who were invited to paint at hospitals, orphanages, and art studios in Lviv by art therapists Nataliia and Yustyna Pavliuk. In January 2023, these works were exhibited at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago. American solo violinist Rebecca Engstrom—a Wisconsin native who collaborated on the composition and the world premiere—will perform with the CAS.
Lessons and Carols
Saturday, December 2, 2023 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Pre-Concert Event Included with Admission:
5:45 – 6:30 PM Good Works: Building Community Through the Art of Song and Service. What sparked the interest and commitment of Racine Social Service leaders? All concert attendees are welcome to this pre-concert panel discussion.
Celebrate one of the area’s most recognized holiday traditions. For over 30 years, audiences have returned to experience the hope, joy, wonder, love, and peace of the Christmas story. This season’s presentation will feature a program of both English and American songs. Old and new carols, combined with traditional readings, take us from the creation story through the prophecy, birth, Wise Men’s journey, and unfolding mystery of the incarnation. Listen, sing along, and share the holiday experience as we honor this hallowed tradition of music and spoken word.
Carmina Burana
In collaboration with The Studio of Classical Dance Arts
Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Main Stage Theatre, The Rita at UW-Parkside
900 Wood Road, Kenosha, WI 53144
Experience Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in an exciting production, staged and choreographed by The Studio of Classical Dance Arts artistic team of Marc Darling and Linda Bennett. The composer intended his setting of medieval poetry to be a feast for the ears and the eyes. The joys and sorrows of youth, love, and fortune will be sumptuously displayed with dance, choreography, and visual design wrapped in some of the most memorable and dramatic music ever written. Student dancers from The Studio of Classical Dance Arts and singers from The Prairie School will join CAS with two pianos and a profusion of percussion creating a boisterous spectacle for the senses.
2022 – 2023 Season
The Spirit Sings – You’ll Be Inspired!
Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Throughout history, faith and song have been intimately connected. From “that old time religion” to ancient chants; European motets to world music; contemporary praise music to multi-ethnic compositions. People the world over have found a way to share their spirituality by lifting their voices together in song. Giving voice to our faith has inspired some of the world’s most moving compositions. Join CAS as we enjoy a cross section of religious expression from around the world.
An American Lessons and Carols – At the Heart of Christmas
Friday, December 9, 2022 at 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403
Experience one of the area’s most recognized holiday traditions. For over 30 years, people have come back again and again to experience the hope, joy, wonder, love, and peace of the Christmas story. This year’s presentation will feature selections with American connections. Carols old and new combined with traditional readings take us from the creation through prophecy, birth, wise men’s journey, and the unfolding mystery of the incarnation. Listen, sing along, and share the holiday experience as we honor this hallowed tradition of song and the spoken word.
A Long and Winding Road – A Beatles Retrospective
Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 7:00 PM
EAA Chapter 838 Museum, 3333 N. Green Bay Road, Racine, WI 53404
In 1962, Ringo Starr joined the Beatles, completing the Fab Four! 2022 marks the 60th Anniversary of the forming of this iconic quartet. Lennon and McCartney would go on to write hundreds of the most memorable songs of the 1960s. CAS will present a program featuring the rich and diversely orchestrated songs of the era’s most popular songwriting duo. Local legends Mark Paffrath and Marvin Dykhuis will lead the way, recreating an unforgettable era in music making. With strings, horns, and a rock band, the CAS will present an evening of music that will touch all of your emotions. Join us as we celebrate the songs of one of music’s most famous quartets with some of Racine’s most celebrated musicians!