Annual Fall Concerts by Berea College Concert Choir Nov. 7 and 8

The concert is open to the public, and there is no admission charge.

The concert begins with an international focus, featuring first a group of Scandinavian choral pieces by composers Toivo Kuula (Finland), Pen Indrehus (Norway), and Michael Bojesen (Denmark) and Latin American music (Canciones por las Americas) by Sid Robinovitch.  The first half concludes with a group of pieces by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), in honor of the 200th anniversary of his birth.  The group will include the famous motet Richte mich, Gott, as well as famous arias and choruses from his well-known oratorio Elijah.

Following a brief intermission, The Chamber Singers open the second half of the program. The ensemble will perform a short prayer, and then sing a group of modern madrigals set to Elizabethan texts by the American composer Jean Berger (1909-2002), in honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth.  The concert will conclude with the full choir performing a new arrangement of the Stephen Collins Foster classic, Hard Times, and a group of spirituals arranged by contemporary African-American composers, including Lil David, Play on Yo’ Harp, There is a balm in Gilead, and In Dat Great Giddin’ Up Mo’nin.

The Berea Concert Choir is a mixed ensemble of approximately 60 singers who perform a variety of music, both sacred and secular, from a range of historical periods.  The Chamber Singers is a select group of 16-20 choir members that specialize in renaissance and 20th Century vocal chamber music.  Formed in 1949, the Berea Choir has years given inspirational performances in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

Dr. Stephen Bolster is former chair of the Berea Music Department, who in addition to directing the Choir and Chamber Singers, teaches voice, vocal methods and conducting.  He holds music degrees from Dartmouth College, the University of North Carolina and the University of Colorado and has done post-doctoral study at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati.  A baritone, Bolster also was a member from 1996-1999 of the Robert Shaw Festival Singers.  Among his many honors and awards, Bolster was named 1999-2000 College-University Teacher of the Year by the Kentucky Music Educators Association.  He has been a member of the Berea music faculty since 1980.

Under Bolster’s direction, the Berea Choir and Chamber Singers have toured annually.  In the summer of 2007, the Choir toured for two weeks in China, performing for large audiences in five cities and on Chinese television.  In the summer of 2002, the ensemble toured in Italy and Switzerland, including performances at the Vatican in Rome, and concerts in Lucerne, Florence and Venice, and in 1994 performed in cities in central and eastern Europe.  The choirs have been featured in two Christmas specials for educational television aired throughout the mid-South, and have twice performed by invitation at the American Negro Spiritual Competition in Cincinnati’s famous Music Hall.