MANSFIELD, PA— Area singers are invited to join the Mansfield University Festival Chorus for the 2014-15 season. The Chorus,
directed by Peggy Dettwiler, will meet on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. in Steadman Theatre beginning Tuesday, August 26.
The Festival Chorus will perform in the annual Choral Collage in Steadman Theatre on Sunday, October 26 at 2:30 p.m., along with the Women’s Chorus, Men’s Chorus, and the Concert Choir.
The program will include a variety of musical styles including folk and spiritual arrangements.
Kenneth Dake, director of music at New York City’s Marble Collegiate Church, will be the guest composer.
The Festival Chorus will perform his setting of Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing and the Concert Choir will premiere his original composition, Further Goals.
The theme for the annual holiday choral concerts on December 5, 6 and 7 is “Lo, How a Rose.”
Hundreds of musical compositions have references to what some believe is the most perfect flower, including sacred works based upon the scripture, Isaiah 35:1. The most famous is the Praetorius setting of Lo, How a Rose e’er Blooming.
Craig Hella Johnson has woven this melody and text into a composition that also incorporates the popular song by Amanda McBroom called The Rose, which will be sung by the Festival Chorus. The finale promises to be thrilling with combined choirs, brass, percussion, and organ in a work by Glenn Rudolph, The Dream Isaiah Saw.
A snowy, peaceful backdrop will set the stage for concert.
The choral literature for the Festival Chorus singers this fall is Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Tennessee Harmony, arranged by Ken Dake, Libiamo ne’ lieti calici (Drinking Song) by Giuseppe Verdi, Erev shel shoshanim by Josef Hadar and arranged by Jack Klebanow, the traditional spiritual Sit Down Servant arranged by Linda Twine,
Paul Basler’s Alleluia, There is No Rose of Such Virtue by John Joubert, Craig Hella Johnson’s Lo, Wow a Rose/The Rose and The Dream Isaiah Saw by Glenn Rudolph.
Participants will need purchase their music at the MU Campus Bookstore before the first rehearsal. It will be available after August 15.
Festival Chorus members are also welcome to participate with the Concert Choir on selections for Men’s and Women’s choruses. These rehearsals are held on Thursdays at 7 p.m. for women and 8 p.m. for men. Singers are not required to be part of any other ensemble to be a member of the Festival Chorus.
During the spring semester, the Festival Chorus will perform its annual major choral concert.
Call (570)662-4721 or e-mail pdettwil@mansfield.edu for more information.