Concert Choir and Chamber Singers will present concert
Morehead State University’s Concert Choir and Chamber Singers will present a concert Tuesday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. at Morehead’s First Baptist Church, 123 East Main Street.
The concert, titled Concert Dulce, is a fundraising event for its May tour of Spain. Complimentary desserts and coffee will be served at intermission.
There will be a $5 general admission charge at the door.
Dr. Greg Detweiler conducts the 41-voice Concert Choir and 13-voice Chamber Singers.
“The program grew out of my trip to Barcelona and Montserrat in 2017 and the images of pilgrims making their way to the basilicas of Montserrat and La Sagada Familia (The Sacred Family),” said Detweiler. “Our program is a series of journeys. We wanted to share pieces from the United States, our state of Kentucky and the Americas and we wanted to study pieces that honored Spanish influence in the world. The texts were chosen to form a kind of pilgrimage with the overall theme of walking from darkness to light—from the loss of love to the hope of new love, from sadness to joy, from loneliness to the warmth of friends’ and God’s love, from pain and death to trust, new life and song. The program begins in Kentucky with '…Day a Breakin’ in My Soul' and ends in three spirituals with friends encouraging each other to walk together through the darkness of the night, letting their anchored hearts shine all over the world.”
The Concert Choir will open and close the program and Chamber Singers will begin the second half of the concert. Kentucky highlights include “Bright Morning Star” from Harlan County and two pieces from "In Song and Shade," a set of pieces based on the works of the famous Kentucky poet, Wendell Berry.
Multicultural highlights include a Moses Hogan trilogy of spirituals, “Corazón Coraza” (Armored Heart) from Cuba, “Deus Cuidará de Ti” (God Will Take Care of You) from Brazil, and “Rosas Pandan” (name of a maiden from Pandan) from the Republic of the Philippines. Additional pieces in Spanish include Morten Lauridsen’s exquisite “Soneto de la Noche” (Sonnet of the Night), Rautavaara’s passionate set of four pieces titled Suite de ‘Lorca’, and the beautiful “Esto Les Digo” (This I tell You) by Kinley Lange.
The program’s theme of light is best captured in “Stars” written for glasses of water and singers by Eriks Esenvalds and no piece could be a more fitting summary of the program than Stephen Paulus’s “Pilgrims’ Hymn.”
Soloists include Summer Lighthall, Reagan Stamper, Ashlyn Denny, Janessa Broadhurst, Eliza Eaches, Noah Bruce, Michael Jarman, Andrew Hall and Jorian Johnson. Nathan Connell is the student conductor of Concert Choir.
During the10-day tour of Spain, the concert will be presented in Madrid, Valencia, Montserrat, Barcelona and at the Ubeda International Festival of Music and Dance. Additional tour highlights include visits to the Royal Palace in Madrid, the Alhambra Palace in Granada, the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia and the Holy Family Cathedral in Barcelona.
Concert Choir and Chamber Singers represent the University on regional, national and international tours. Recent trips have included tours to Italy, Hungary/Austria, Costa Rica and Ireland.
In 2016, Chamber Singers won two gold medals at the Musica Eterna Roma International Choir Festival in Rome. During the 2014 Ireland tour, the choirs competed in the Mayo International Choral Festival where the Concert Choir won first place in the sacred division and the Chamber Singers won the festival’s grand prize. In 2012, the MSU Chamber Singers also won their division with the gold diploma at the World Choir Games in Cincinnati.
Additional information is available by calling Dr. Detweiler at 606-783-2480.
For more information about MSU's Department of Music, Theatre and Dance, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/mtd.
