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The Berea College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, Stephen Bolster, conductor, will present two performances of their annual fall concert on Saturday, November 3 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 4 at 3 p.m. in Gray Auditorium, Presser Music Hall on the Berea College Campus. The choirs will be accompanied by Ryan Shirar on the piano, and John Courter on the organ. Admission is free.
The concert will feature songs of death and of love. The centerpiece of the first half of the concert is the Requiem of contemporary Canadian composer Eleanor Daley. The 30-minute work for unaccompanied choir combines texts from the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, the English Book of Common Prayer, the Psalms, and contemporary poetry. It is a prayer of comfort to the dead, and a testament to the beauty of the eternal life. Requiem was awarded the 1994 National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors.
Other short works in the first half of the program augment the Requiem theme. Also featured will be three choral depictions of the story of the conversion of Saul from the book of Acts. The three dramatic settings are by Heinrich Schütz (for multiple choirs and soloists), Egil Hovland, and Z. Randall Stroope.
Following intermission, the second half of the program consists of songs of love. The Chamber Singers will begin with a group of well-known madrigals by Renaissance composer Thomas Morley, in honor of the 450th anniversary of his birth. The popular selections will include Now is the Month of Maying, and My Bonnie Lass She Smileth, and a surprise spoof of the latter by P. D. Q. Bach. The Chamber Singers will continue with two Spanish villancicos, also Renaissance love songs. The Concert Choir will conclude the concert with contemporary love songs by American composers Norman Dello Joio, Gwyneth Walker, and David Brunner.
Come and enjoy an evening or afternoon of song.
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