CHICAGO MASS CHOIR

Chicago Mass Choir, known worldwide as the ambassadors of gospel, return to the Teatro Arriaga, where they delivered a heavenly concert in December 2023. This time, the group presents a gospel tribute to the city of Chicago. It was there—around Thomas A. Dorsey, Roberta Martin, Mahalia Jackson, The Caravans, and the churches of Chicago’s South Side—that gospel music was born and reached its golden age, becoming the soundtrack of Christmas across Europe. “Sweet Home Chicago,” the new Grandes del Gospel production starring Chicago Mass Choir, revisits the classics from the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, songs that shaped a genre born in Black American neighbourhoods that has since moved and inspired audiences around the world.

The ensemble has collaborated with a wide range of artists in major productions: Bob Dylan on *Gotta Serve Somebody*, Umphrey’s McGee, Onirama, *The Dr. Bobby Jones Show*, and the musicals *Three Mo’ Tenors* and *The Color Purple*. They also work annually with the Chicago Gospel Festival and regularly perform at the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans as well as at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Chicago Mass Choir tour Europe regularly, receiving widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences. Founded in 1988 by James C. Chambers, the group has moved audiences across the globe with the beauty of their voices, the contagious energy of their rhythm, and their uplifting songs of hope. And the Teatro Arriaga audience already knows it well.