Choral Concert
About the event
The School of Music will present its annual Spring Choral Concert featuring WSU Madrigal Singers, Treble Choir, Tenor/Bass Choir and Concert Choir on Thursday, April 20 at 8pm in Bryan Hall Theatre. Free admission will be offered to all attendees.
Entitled “Reflections and Celebrations” this concert will feature English madrigals, Chinese folk songs, and Rossini’s operatic style, Southern gospel hymns, Georgian dance rhythms, Mendelssohn’s flowing melodies, and contemporary works as we take you on a global excursion through music and language.
The Madrigal Singers, directed by Lori Wiest, professor of Music, will perform English Renaissance madrigals by John Wilbye, John Dowland, Thomas Bateson, and Thomas Tomkins that have a melancholy view of love. The Lamentations of Jeremiah, sung in Latin and composed by Orlandus Lassus (Orlando di Lasso) setting of the first 3 verses of the lamentations, reflect on the fall of Jerusalem. Concluding their performance will be four settings of Chinese folksongs, sung in Mandarin, featuring Jasmine Flower, Riding on a Mule, Guessing, and Fengyang Song, all arranged by Chen Yi.
The Treble Choir, directed by Dean Luethi, Associate Professor of Music, will explore sacred pieces in various styles and will open their portion of the concert with the first movement (Stabat Mater) of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater followed by Felix Mendelssohn’s Lift Thine Eyes from his oratorio Elijah. The Treble Choir will conclude their portion of the program with the Rastafarian song Rivers of Babylon arranged by Susan Brumfield and traditional Appalachian tune Will the Circle Be Unbroken arranged by J. David Moore.
The Tenor/Bass Choir, directed by Dean Luethi, Associate Professor of Music, will also present a sacred and spiritual program. They will begin their program with the first movement (Adspice Domine) from Felix Mendelssohn’s larger work Vespergesang and Reginald Unterseher’s Sweet Rivers. The Tenor/Bass Choir will conclude their portion of the program with the Stephen Foster song Hard Times Come Again No More arranged by Alice Parker and Ernani Aguiar’s exciting piece Salmo 150 arranged by Alberto Grau.
Concert Choir will open their portion of the concert with Rossini’s festive and operatic Toast pour le nouvel an (Toast for the New Year). Verleih’ uns Frieden, a prayer for peace composed by Felix Mendelssohn, known for his beautiful melodic phrases, will be conducted by Jacob Malpocker, graduate student in choral conducting and featuring pianist Frankie Bones, graduate student in piano performance, This will be followed by a reflective contemporary composition by Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström’s To See a World which develops from one short melodic motif into a gloriously rich romantic harmony. Miniyama Nayo, a highly rhythmic theme and variations on nonsense syllables composed by Paul John Rodoi, will be followed by Flight Song, by Kim André Arnesen. Celebrating the folk music and drum rhythms of the country of Georgia, Doluri captures the drum sounds and the rhythmic energy of the Georgian language. Concluding the concert, we will return to our American roots with a rousing Southern hymn, Unclouded Day, arranged by Shawn Kirchner, incorporating a feeling of bluegrass harmonies that will lift your spirits and leave you humming the tune!