Choral Concert “Beyond Boundaries”
About the event
Choirs at WSU will perform their final concert on Thursday, April 19 at 8:00 pm in Bryan Hall Theatre. Admission is free. The concert will feature the WSU Madrigal Singers, Treble Choir, Tenor/Bass Choir, and Concert Choir with this spring’s featured theme, “Beyond Boundaries.”
Madrigal Singers, conducted by Dr. Lori Wiest, will be performing music focused on a celebration of the seasons with “Sumer is Icumen In,” Tanzen und Springen” (Hans Leo Hassler), “La Tricotea” (Alonzo), “Farewell, Dear Love” (Jones), “April is in My Mistress Face” (Morley), and “Revecy venir du printans” (le Jeune). The poetry of these selections range from the announcement of summer and the descriptive spring awakening of nature to love, unrequited love, and lust.
The WSU Treble Choir, under the direction of Dr. Dean Luethi, will begin their portion of the program with Maria-Theresa Vizconde-Roldan’s arrangement of the Mudukayan folk song, “Orde-e,” joined by the WSU Choral Music Education Studio Class playing an accompaniment on Boomwhackers arranged by Leticia Monteiro. The program will continue with Karen Linford Robinson’s “High Flight” and the haunting Estonian folk song, “Lauliku Lapsepõli,” arranged by Veljo Tormis and sung by WSU School of Music Alum Maarika Vercamer. They will conclude with Jonathan Rodgers’ arrangement of “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” and Jocelyn Hagen’s Treble Choir and 4-hand piano piece “Moon Goddess.”
The WSU Tenor/Bass Choir, under the direction of Dr. Luethi, will begin their portion of the program with two movements (Song of the Turkish War and Bawdy Song) from Veljo Tormis’ Meestelaulud I (Men’s Songs 1). They will continue with “Nine Hundred Miles” arranged by Philip E. Silvey and Connor Hopkin’s arrangement “She Walks in Beauty” accompanied by WSU faculty member Keri McCarthy on oboe. They will conclude their performance with their energetic imitation of favorite instruments in James Rodde’s arrangement of the Pennsylvania Dutch folk song “Johnny Schmoker.”
The sun, moon, stars and sky are featured in the program presented by Concert Choir, conducted by Dr. Wiest. Johannes Brahms’ beautiful “O Schöne Nacht,” Ēriks Ešenvalds’ “Stars” with tuned water glasses, Michael Hennagin’s “Sunrise,” and Daniel Elder’s “Ballade to the Moon” will set the mood for a focus on the sky. “The Boy Who Picked Up His Feet to Fly” by Joshua Shank, with watercolor art work by Clare Sullivan and animated by Jeremie Pope, both members of Concert Choir, projected above the choir will bring an additional visual element to this epic story. The concert will conclude with Shawn Kirchner’s spiritual “I’ll Be On My Way,” featuring soloists from the choir. Concert Choir’s accompanist is senior piano major, Laura Hendrickson.