(Posted March 24, 2015)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The Juniata College Concert Choir will deliver a program of mostly classical and sacred choral music for its spring concert at 3 p.m., Sunday, March 29, in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus.

The concert is free and open to the public. The Juniata Concert Choir is directed by Russell Shelley, Elma Stine Heckler Professor of Music.

The concert will open with "Musik allein ist Leben," a German folk song, followed by "Chantez á Dieu," a choral classic written by Dutch composer Jan Pietersoon Sweelinck.

The next selection will be "Cantante Domino," a hymn written by Claudio Monteverdi, a composer who bridges the styles of Renaissance and Baroque music. The focus changes to early American music when the choir sings "Washington Street," by William Billings, who is considered to be the "father of early American choral music." "Ave Maria Stella," by famed Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, will conclude that section of the concert.

The ensemble will transition to a modern American work, "O Lux Beatissima," by contemporary composer Howard Helvey, who is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Another 20th century compostion, "The Glory of the Father," by Norwegian composer Egil Hovland, is based on the Gospels of St. John.

The choir will sing "The Lamb," by contemporary composer Eric Haas, which is based on "Songs of Innocence, by poet William Blake. The next selection, also called "The Lamb," is by English composer John Taverner and is based on the Blake poem. The next song, "Only the Sound," is written by Minnesota-based contemporary composer Lauren Pelon. The Disney smash, "Frozen" is represented as the choir performs "Heimr Ardadalr and Vuelie," written by Canadian composer Christophe Beck.

The next section showcases "Abendfriede," by 19th century German composer Josef Rheinberger, and "Adoramus te, Christe," by Theodore Dubois, a French composer who lived into the 20th century. Another song titled "Adoramus te, Christe," is by modern-day composer Eric Barnum, a professor of music at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. The next selection, "Holy" is by Dan Forrest, an American composer born in 1978.

The final section of the concert will focus more on folk music, including "Ballad of Green Broom," by English 20th-century composer Benjamin Britten. The song comes from Britten's suite "Flower Songs." "Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be?" is a traditional nursery rhyme arranged by Gail Kubik, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer. The next song is an American classic, Stephen Foster's "Nelly Bly," which honors a groundbreaking female journalist. "Soon Ah Will Be Done" is a spiritual written by William L. Dawson.

The concert will close with the choir singing "Set Me as a Seal," adapted by Russell Shelley from Rachmaninoff's "Vespers No. 6."
The Juniata Concert Choir is one of three choirs performing at the college. The 50-person choir tours every spring semester, focusing its program on historical sacred music. Juniata choirs have performed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Recent tours have taken the choir to Germany in 2015, China in 2014, Guatemala in 2013 and Ireland and Northern Ireland in 2012.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.