Morehead State University’s Concert Chamber Singers will present its “Bon Voyage” concert Tuesday, June 28, at 7 pm at First Baptist Church, 123 East Main Street, Morehead.
The event is free and open to the public.
The 20-voice Chamber Singers, conducted by Dr. Greg Detweiler, will depart the following morning for Rome and Pompeii, Italy. In Rome they will compete in the Musica Eterna Roma International Choral Festival and Competition, sing several shared concerts with other international choirs, and sing as part of the 5 p.m. Mass at St. Peter’s on July 4. The tour will conclude with a concert in the ruins of Pompeii.
The choirs’ program is based upon the specific requirements of the competition and St. Peter’s and other requests, such as an All-American program for the Fourth of July.
Chamber Singers will open with three early music pieces and then move to more contemporary sacred pieces. The early music pieces are “Leggiadre Ninfe” by Luca Marenzio, “Super flumina Babylonis” by Palestrina, and “Sicut Moses serpentum” by Heinrich Schütz. Contemporary pieces include C.V. Stanford’s “Justorum animae,” John Tebay’s “Psalm 57,” David Dickau’s “O Nata Lux,” and arrangements of “He’s Got the Whole World and Precious Lord.”
The second half of the program will feature two pieces of Americana, two love songs, and a final Cuban dance piece. The choir will open with arrangements of “America the Beautiful” and “Wade in the Water.” They will continue with “I Would Live in your Love” by Stephen Chatman and “In love with the beautiful eyes” by David Ashley White, and conclude with the fiery rumba, “El Guayboso” by Guido López-Gavilán.
Chamber Singers represent MSU on regional, national and international tours. Recent trips have included tours to Hungary/Austria, Costa Rica and Ireland. During the 2014 Ireland tour, the choir competed in the Mayo International Choral Festival winning the festival’s grand prize. In 2012, Chamber Singers also won its division with the gold diploma at the World Choir Games in Cincinnati.
Additional information is available by calling Dr. Detweiler at 606-783-2480.
