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MSU Concert Choir and Chamber Singers present ‘My Spirit Soars’ concert

15 April 2022

The Morehead State University Concert Choir and Chamber Singers will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at First Baptist Church at 123 East Main Street in Morehead. The show is the culmination of a three-day tour of Kentucky towns and cities. Admission is free and open to the public.

“Choir tour is my favorite activity of the school year,” said Dr. Greg Detweiler, MSU music education professor and director of choral studies. “We have waited a long time to resume touring and I am looking forward to enjoying every minute of it.”

Detweiler conducts the 40-voice Concert Choir and 13-voice Chamber Singers. The concert, entitled “My Spirit Soars,” is a collection of pieces capturing images of flight, stars, the heavens and rejoicing. It begins with the Kentucky Appalachian folk song, “Bright Morning Star,” and concludes with “We Can Mend the Sky” by Jake Runestad. The vocalists will also perform “Awake, My Soul,” “Song of Triumph,” “Come Let’s Rejoice” and “I Don’ Feel No Ways Tired” in the show. The evening includes a beautiful arrangement by Daniel Elder of the famous childhood poem “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and the well-known pop song “All Star” set in madrigal style.

The program was initially designed for a May tour of Peru and contains Appalachian tunes such as “Every Night When the Sun Goes Down” by Gwyneth Walker and compositions using Spanish texts. These include “Dios Te Salve Maria (Ave Maria)” by Kentucky composer Richard Burchard, “Poema de la Duda” by the Ecuadorian composer Juan Carlos Urrutia Palacio, “Esto Les Digo” by Kinley Lange and “Sliliza” by Jim Papouis. Dr. Eric Brown, MSU assistant professor of voice, will join the choir to sing the baritone solo in “Every Night” and three MSU percussion majors will provide the percussion accompaniments for the Spanish pieces: Taylor Pfaff (junior from Columbus, Ohio), Tanner Prewitt (sophomore from Mt. Sterling), and Zach Smith (junior from Shelbyville). Additional vocal soloists in the program include Jocelyn Goldy (sophomore from Morehead), Britney Hopkins (junior from Pikeville), Summer Lighthall (junior from Burlington), Emily McCreary (sophomore from Catlettsburg), Tania Sempertegui (graduate student from Guayaquil, Ecuador) and Katie Webb (a junior from Mt. Sterling).

Chamber Singers will also present a set of three short pieces using German texts. Included are “Die Harmonie in der Ehe (Harmony in Marriage)” by Franz Joseph Haydn and two of Johannes Brahms’ “Liebeslieder Walzer (Love Waltzes).” Joining the choir for these will be staff accompanist William Murphy and graduate student Tania Sempertegui.

Concert Choir and Chamber Singers represent the University on regional, national and international tours. Recent trips have included tours to Spain, Italy, Ireland, Hungary/Austria and Costa Rica. Chamber Singers won two gold medals at the Musica Eterna Roma International Choir Festival in Rome in 2016. During the 2014 Ireland tour, the choirs competed in the Mayo International Choral Festival. Concert Choir won first place in the Sacred Division and 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.

For more information on the concert, email Detweiler at g.detweiler@moreheadstate.edu or call 606-783-2480.

To learn more about music programs at MSU, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/music.