The East Central University Singers, University Chorale, Wind Ensemble and Women’s Chorus will perform a concert on Monday, April 22, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ada.
Begrabnisgesang (Burial Song), opus 13, will be performed by the Wind Ensemble and ECU Singers. Written by the 19th century master, Johannes Brahms, opus 13 is one of the very few examples of a composition written for wind ensemble and mixed chorus.
The Singers will perform Austrian composer Michael Haydn’s Petite et Accipietes (Ask and you will receive, John 16) with the assistance of Dr. Starla Hibler, professor of music. Also, the Singers will perform a recent setting of O Magnum Mysterium (O Great Mystery), a responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas by the contemporary choral composer, Dr. Z. Randall Stroope, of Oklahoma State University. O Magnum Mysterium was copyrighted in 2010.
Finally, the Singers will perform a vivacious arrangement of the Battle of Jericho by the late and great arranger of spirituals, Moses Hogan.
The ECU Women’s Chorus will sign a lovely setting of Ave Maria (Hail Mary) by the contemporary composer Dr. Guy Forbes of Milliken University in Decatur, Ill.
The University Chorale will introduce a work by ECU’s resident choral composers, Victoria Davison and Rudy Lupinski. The Song of Ruth, a very beautiful setting of Ruth 1:16-17, was pinned in 2012 for mixed chorus, piano, harpsichord and recorder. The University Chorale will be assisted by Lupinski at the piano, ECU senior piano major Carissa Rogers at the keyboard and ECU faculty member Juliana Overmier on the flute.
The University Chorale will also present Tota pulchra es, a lovely setting of one of the Five Antiphons for the Psalms of Second Vespers for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Composed by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, Tota pulchra es was composed in 2001. Finally, the Chorale will sing a setting of the Ambrosian chant O salutaris hostia. The piece was published in 2001 and written by Vytautas Miskinis, a Lithuanian composer and professor who has been the chorale director of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater Conservatory since 1985.
The Wind Ensemble is under the direction of Dr. Allen Correll, director of bands. The ECU Singers, University Chorale and ECU Women’s Chorus are under the direction of Dr. J. Steven Walker, directory of choral activities.
The concert is free and open to the public.