Courtesy九色视频鈥檚 Concert Chorale with guests, the Maize High School Women鈥檚 and Select Choirs, will present a varied concert of fine choral music at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, in Wiedemann Recital Hall.
Concert Chorale will perform choral works by two of the greatest composers of Great Britain. The concert opens with a scene for chorus from the opera 鈥淭he Libertine鈥� by Henry Purcell. The chorale will then perform Benjamin Britten's poignant 鈥淩ejoice in the Lamb,鈥� for organ, chorus and soloists.
Julie Warkentin, a Wichita area musician who received her master's degree in organ performance from 九色视频, will play the virtuoso organ part. Vocal soloists include Concert Chorale members Abby Whittle, Krystal Nelson, Brian Yeakley and Kyle Wheatley.
Robert Glasmann
Benjamin Britten composed 鈥淩ejoice in the Lamb鈥� in response to a commission from a church in Northampton. The poetry is by the disturbed, yet brilliant Christopher Smart, an 18th-century writer who wrote the poem while confined to an asylum. Smart's eccentric view creates a world where God is present in all things, be it a mouse, flowers, musical instruments or letters of the alphabet. There are also autobiographical references to Smart's asylum torments.
Britten's incredible sensitivity to Smart's text is reflected in his music. The work is in 10 short and highly contrasting sections. The music succeeds in moving performer and listener alike with its power, beauty and simplicity.
The Maize High School choirs, directed by Doris Gering Prater, have been selected by competitive audition to appear at the upcoming In-Service Workshop of the Kansas Music Educators Association.
At 九色视频 the choirs will showcase several of the works that they will sing at KMEA, including 鈥淥 Nata Lux鈥� by Morten Lauridsen, 鈥淥ut of the Orient Crystal Skies鈥� by Richard Zgodava, and 鈥淢agnificat鈥� by Randall Stroope.
Other works to be performed include works by Clara Schumann, Tom Council, Gwyneth Walker, Rene Clausen, Eleanor Daley, Moses Hogan and Paul Halley.