Berea College Concert Choir, Eastern Kentucky University Concert Choir and Symphony Orchestra Players combining for special anniversary concert Sunday, May 3 at Berea College

The concert will feature major works of four significant composers whose anniversaries are being celebrated in 2009:  Henry Purcell (1659-1695), George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), and Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).

The centerpiece of the concert, and the first half of the program, will be Haydn’s “Missa in tempori belli” (Mass in the Time of War) for choir, orchestra, and soloists, written in 1796.  At the time, Austria was being invaded by Napoleon’s troops, and the extended prayer for peace, “dona nobis pacem,” at the end of the mass featuring flourishes of trumpets and timpani, is probably a reflection of this fact.  The work is also known in German as the Paukenmesse or “Timpani Mass.”  The 40-minute work will be conducted by Stephen Bolster.   The choirs and orchestra are also performing the mass in Brock Auditorium of Eastern Kentucky University on Sunday, April 26, conducted by Sue Ellen Ballard, director of Choral Activities at EKU.

The second half of the program will be performed by the Berea College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers.   It will feature the “full,” multi-movement Chandos Anthem No. 4, “O Sing Unto the Lord”  by Handel, three choruses from Handel’s “Messiah,” and settings of “Hear My Prayer, O Lord” by Purcell and Mendelssohn.  The latter is an extended work that will feature Madalyn Mentor, soprano, and the Concert Choir.    The concert will conclude with two spirituals, “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” and “Plenty Good Room. “

The concert is free of charge and open to the public.  Ryan Shirar will accompany the choirs on the second half of the program.

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