About Us
Bread & Roses 30th Anniversary Concert – June, 2025
Our Mission
The members of Bread & Roses Chorus are devoted to developing and enjoying musical skills, sharing them with each other and the community, and providing a community of women who deliver messages of peace and justice, protection of our fragile environment, diversity, women’s empowerment, and acceptance for all.
Our History
Bread & Roses was formed in 1995 as a result of a regional women’s choral festival at NIU. Our gratitude goes to Toni Tollerud and Linda Slabon – if not for them, we would not have even begun. Our name was inspired by the poem “Bread and Roses,” written by James Oppenheim, set to music by Mimi Farina. This song’s key phrase, “Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses,” has become our mantra, so we sing it at every rehearsal, and concert. Through the enjoyment of our music, we give our audiences reason to think, laugh, and even cry, and we pride ourselves on donating the majority of our concert proceeds to local charitable organizations. Also, a major milestone was reached in 2025, when we obtained nonprofit status, and had to change our official name to Bread & Roses Chorus. We hope this new chapter will bring good things for our chorus and our community!
Our Singers
Bread & Roses Chorus is a diverse group of around 35 women of varying ages, from various backgrounds. We are based in DeKalb, but members also travel from many surrounding areas including Palatine, Arlington Heights, Rockford, St. Charles, Geneva, Kirkland and Huntley. It’s true, we’re a collection of very different individuals, but we come together every Sunday night because we share a love of music and singing, and want to share our mission and our music with the community.
Bread & Roses Spring 2024 Concert
Our Director
Sherri Lasko began as the Music Director for Bread & Roses in June of 2025. She brings a diverse background in art, music, and business, as well as having served on the boards of several non profits. She was born and raised in the Chicago area, and currently resides in a Northwest suburb of Chicago.
Her music studies began with her mother, herself an accomplished pianist, at age 3 and continued from the age of 14 with William Browning, the head of piano at the American Conservatory. She won her first national piano competition at the age of 12, going on to compete and place nationally and internationally for over 10 years. After earning her undergrad degree in piano performance, she continued her music studies in London with Carola Grindea at the Guildhall School. During her high school, college, and post-graduate years, she toured several European countries, performing with choirs as a singer, conductor, and accompanist, as well as solo piano performances.
Sherri began her conducting studies with Lynne Bradley during her high school years in LaGrange, IL and continued with Rex Hicks during her conservatory years. She participated in several conducting masterclasses in Chicago and London with several prominent conductors including Henry Mazer, Claudio Abbado, Margaret Hillis, Leon Fleisher, and Dale Worland. Sherri studied voice with Sally Kirtley, a Chicago opera singer, and has sung with many choirs, including Vox Caelestis and the Greg Smith Singers. Sherri as also served as the pianist and co-conductor of Vox Caelstis Women’s Choir for several years, participating in many world premieres of women’s choral repertoire.
After returning from Europe, Sherri went back to school to study Film and Video, working for many years as a producer/director in the Chicago advertising community. She has run her own design and marketing firm for over 30 years, and also serves a judge for the One Earth Film Festival.
Passionate about all of the arts, Sherri has worked with several art and music non profit groups across the US, helping them in marketing, board development, and fund raising. An ardent environmentalist, Sherri is also a published nature photographer and regularly volunteers for natural areas restoration. While art, nature, and music have been her life-long passions, being a Mom to an amazing young man has been her most rewarding joy, by far.
Our Director Emerita
Words can not describe how much we owe to our fearless and dedicated former director of 28 years, Peggy Safford, and how much she means to us. Founding member, and 2007 recipient of the “Woman of Achievement” award, Peggy has spent many waking (and sleeping) hours of her life on Bread & Roses. Nearly three decades of Sunday nights were given to transforming us into a tight, harmonious, performance-ready chorus. She worked tirelessly behind the scenes arranging, transposing, re-arranging, purchasing and organizing both our music and concert programs – including what we say between pieces at the performances. Peggy chaired our music committee – helping to select the songs we sang, and participated heavily in our Steering and Concert committees. Peggy was our rock. She encouraged us when we “almost got it” and let us know when we needed to get our heads out of our . . . music. She was a wonderful director, mother to one of our members, and friend whom we will miss leading us into the next chapter. Thank you!
Interested in joining us?
Our 2026 Spring rehearsal season will begin February 8, 2026! Please look at our "Join Us" pages for more information. Our chorus is usually no audition, but after our third rehearsal of a semester we will ask prospective singers to audition with our director.
December, 2026 concert TBA