Chorale, Women’s Glee Club Present Mid-winter Concert
The 110 singers of the Alma College Chorale and the Women’s Glee
Club will join forces to present a concert of early American songs from
the sacred Shaker tradition.
The evening of song takes place at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16 in the Remick
Heritage Center at Alma College. Admission is free and open to the
public. No ticket is required.
The program will feature the combined groups performing “A Shaker
Worship Service,” compiled and arranged by Salli Terri. The work
recreates the music that might have been sung at a church service in
the Shaker religious tradition, according to Will Nichols, faculty
choir director.
Traditional worship songs have been woven together to make a continuous
whole to recreate the feeling of a 19th-century hymn sing. Some
of the songs are well-known to modern audiences, such as “Simple
Gifts,” “I Will Bow” and “Be Simple,” and others, though new to the
listener, will have a familiar feel.
The other half of the concert will feature the Glee Club and Chorale
singing independently of each other. The Chorale will sing three songs
by American composer Cecil Effinger for chorus and oboe. The Glee
Club will sing songs by contemporary American women composers Elizabeth
Alexander and Gweneth Walker.
The concert will feature student conductors from the Choral Music
Education program. Okemos senior education major Danny Balger is one of
the directors.
“This class is the ultimate of everything we’ve been working toward,”
Balger said. Also directing will be Benzonia senior Corie Brown, Macomb
sophomore Elizabeth Knapp, St. Helen junior Samantha Lyttle and
Comstock Park senior Brian Paul.
Posted: Mon, February 5th, 2007 at 8:38AM
