PULLMAN, Wash. — The Washington State University Concert Choir and three other choirs from the university will join the Idaho Washington Chamber Choir for a March 8 concert.
The 8 p.m. program is set for WSU’s Bryan Hall Auditorium and is open to the public without charge.
The choir concert will feature the compositions of well-known choral composer Robert Young. Young has more than 75 choral works in print, spanning the last 30 years. Three choirs will perform six of his pieces during the concert.
“Robert spends a great deal of time with a text before he sets it to music,” said Charles Neufeld, who will conduct the University Singers in three of Young’s pieces. “He has a tremendous ability to bring out the subtle meanings and nuances of poetry in his choral music.”
The composer is well known for his settings of Elizabethan poetry and the poetry of Christina and Gabrielli Rosetti.
Young holds a doctorate from the University of Southern California, where he sang under Charles Hirt in the 1950s. He is the founding conductor of the Baylor University Chamber Singers, a post he held for more than 30 years before retiring. Young, who will attend the concert, is the guest clinician of the WSU Choral Workshop during the week before the concert.
A reading session of Young’s choral works will be open to the public at 3 p.m. March 8 in WSU’s Kimbrough Hall.
In addition to the WSU Concert Choir, the WSU Madrigal Singers and University Singers, the concert will feature the Recital Choir, directed by Bryan Long, and the Idaho Washington Chamber Choir, also conducted by Neufeld.
The WSU Concert Choir is preparing for a summer European tour. Lori Wiest, conductor of the Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers, said the choir is taking a varied repertoire on the tour.
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