Chorale

Do you love choral music and want to be part of something special? The Belleville Philharmonic Chorale is welcoming new voices! We are a dynamic civic community chorus performing a vibrant mix of musical styles, from classical masterpieces to modern favorites. Because we move quickly through diverse repertoire, our members must be able to independently prepare their parts between weekly rehearsals.

Meet the Director – Richard W. Thompson

Richard W. Thompson began playing organ for Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish as a high-school student. He has served as choir director and organist for several parishes throughout his life, including the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, Spokane, Washington, and the Archdiocesan Choir at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis, Missouri. His family roots go back to ancient Mesopotamia. After leaving St. Teresa in 1980, Mr. Thompson moved to Leuven, Belgium, where he was organist at the American College of Louvain, as well as at St. Pieter’s Collegiate Church. He also directed a schola at the American College.
 Returning to the United States in 1986, Mr. Thompson was music director at Holy Spirit Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and later served as assistant organist and choir director at Spokane, Washington’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes. Mr. Thompson returned to Belleville in 1993, where he served as director of music at St. Teresa Parish until 2008. He was director of the Belleville Philharmonic Chorale from 1995 to 2003, when he was named organist for the St. Louis Archdiocesan Choir at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2008, Mr. Thompson formed the Belleville Diocesan Schola, an auditioned group of about 20 singers who provided the liturgical music for some of the diocesan celebrations. Later, he redesigned the Belleville Diocesan Schola as an independent chorale under the name Allegro! From 2012-2019, Mr. Thompson was organist and choir director at First Presbyterian Church of Ferguson, Missouri. In 2020 he returned to St. Teresa Parish in Belleville. In 2021 he was appointed organist and choir director at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Belleville, IL, a position which he still holds. Mr. Thompson’s organ teachers included Marie Kremer, Glenn Freiner, Nancy Ypma, and William “Pat” Partridge. His piano teachers were Jane Allen and Linda Perry. He has studied choral conducting at Washington University and Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville. In addition to his musical career, Mr. Thompson completed a doctorate in theology at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) in 1985 and taught at Marquette University in Milwaukee and Gonzaga University in Spokane. He received his law degree from St. Louis University in 1994 and was a practicing attorney in Belleville for 25 years. For the past two decades he has also been a member of the Society of American Magicians. He has performed over 40 card-magic and mind-reading shows in the Saint Louis Area. If you would like to book him for a performance, please give him a call (618-558-7465)!

If you possess a passion for singing, a cooperative spirit, and a desire to help our organization thrive both on and off the stage, we want you! Come share your voice and shape our harmony. We perform several concerts a year ranging across genres including significant works such as Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Beethoven’s ninth symphony, Poulenc’s Gloria, and Rutter’s Requiem. Our Christmas Wonders concert is a selection of accompanied and acapella pieces to usher in the season.

Rehearsal Times

7:30 PM Monday evenings, September through mid-May at the Philharmonic Hall