November 19, 2009
UW Chorale, Chamber Singers present combined concert Dec. 1 in Meany
The UW Chorale and Chamber Singers present a concert, Between the Now and Not Yet: Songs of Transition, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1 in Meany Theater.
The Chamber Singers, directed by Geoffrey Boers, will present a series of works depicting the “circles” that we experience in life: day to night, birth to death, slavery to freedom, season to season. The works themselves represent a similar circle, and will be visually presented in a circular format in the program, and performed as such–the concert can begin at any moment in the circle and will not be complete until the circle is complete. The audience and the choir themselves will not know where in the circle of works the concert will begin. Works to be performed are:
- Lament for Pasiphae from Mid-Winter Songs, by Morten Lauridsen
- Die mit Tranen Saen (Those who grieve will become joyful), by Hermann Schein
- look up…., by Eric Barnum
- Follow the Drinking Gourd, arranged by Andre Thomas
- Sure on the Shining Night from Three Nocturnes, by Morten Lauridsen
- Wade in the Water, arranged by Allen Koepke
- Cantate 106, Gottes Zeit ist die Allerbeste Zeit, by J.S. Bach
- Eternal Sun (with University Chorale), by John Tavener
University Chorale, directed by Giselle Wyers, will perform numerous works in connection with the group’s upcoming tour to Estonia, Latvia and Finland, including two works by the celebrated Estonian composer Veljo Tormis. The first is Bridges of Song (Laulusild), written in Estonian and Finnish, in celebration of the opening of the channel between Finland and Estonia that coincided with Estonia’s new status as a free country in the 1980s, and the second is The Beginning of Song (Laulu algus), with a text that compares the beginning of a song with a country’s struggle to find identity and eventual freedom; this work was sung regularly at the Estonian song festivals, a rare opportunity for thousands of the country’s singers to celebrate their identity as Estonians even in the midst of Soviet occupation.
Other works on the program include Climb, by Elizabeth Alexander, which examines freedom through the lens of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem about a falcon seeking new heights, MidWinter Waking, by Morten Lauridsen, conducted by UW graduate conductor Bret Amundson, and Latin works by Maurice Durufle and Rene Eespere.
Tickets for the concert are $10 and are available at the Arts Ticket office, 206-543-4880 or online at www.music.washington.edu.
