Morehead State University’s Concert Choir and Chamber Singers will present its Bon Voyage concert Thursday, April 24, at 8 p.m. at the First Baptist Church, 123 E. Main Street, Morehead.
The event is free and open to the public.
The 50-voice Concert Choir and 18-voice Chamber Singers are conducted by Dr. Greg Detweiler. The choirs will include the performance as a local concert tour in preparation for their nine-day concert tour of Ireland.
The program titled “Songs of the Spirit and Spirited Song” will feature music from Appalachia, the masters and Ireland.
Concert Choir will open with the “Down in the River to Pray” followed by “Esultate Deo” by Palestrina, “Os Justi” by Anton Bruckner, and the Irish “Alleluia: Incantations” by Micael McGlynn. The climactic part of this section is formed by two very dramatic piece “Lighten Mine Eyes” by Bo Hansson and “The Conversion of Saul” by Z. Randall Stroope. The exuberant “Psalm 57” by John Tebay closes the first part of the concert.
The Chamber Singers’ portion features three sacred songs framed by an opening “My Spirit Sang All Day” and a closing Cuban rumba “El Guayaboso.” The center sacred pieces are “Agnus Dei” from William Byrd’s “Mass for Four Voices,” “Selig sind die Toten” by Hienrich Schütz, and “Jesu Dulcis Memoria” by Ivo Antognini.
Concert Choir will conclude with three pieces: the Appalachian song, “Every Night When the Sun Goes Down” by Gwyneth Walker; the traditional spiritual “I Can Tell the World” by Moses Hogan, and the traditional Irish song “Irish Blessing” arranged by Graeme Langager.
Concert Choir and Chamber Singers represent MSU on regional, national and international tours. Recent trips have included an eight-day tour of Hungary and Austria, a five-day concert tour of Virginia, and a 10-day concert tour of Costa Rica. The Chamber Singers won its division with the gold diploma at the 2012 World Choir Games in Cincinnati.
Both groups will compete in the 2014 Mayo International Choral festival as part of their May tour of Ireland. Other highlights include a concert in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin and a concert at the Ballymena Arts Festival. Ballymena is Morehead’s sister city in Northern Ireland. The choir will perform nine concerts on its nine-day tour.
Dr. Detweiler is in his 16th year as director of choral activities at MSU. Besides conducting the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, he teaches conducting, voice and vocal pedagogy. He holds the Doctor of Music Arts degree from the University of Illinois and has studied Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the Manhattan School of Music. His choirs have toured Costa Rica, Canada, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, and have appeared at state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators National Conference. He was the 2002 Kentucky Music Educators Association Teacher of the Year in College-University Education.
Additional information is available by calling Dr. Detweiler at 606-783-2480.
