PULLMAN – The WSU School of Music will present a choral concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in Bryan Hall featuring performances by the Madrigal/Chamber Singers, University Singers and Concert Choir.
The Madrigal/Chamber Singers, conducted by School of Music professor Lori Wiest, will open the free, public concert with the upbeat “Fly Not So Swift” and the sad “Weep, Weep Mine Eyes,” both by Renaissance English composer John Wilbye. They will then sing heart-breaking love stories “Das G’Läut Zu Speyer” by Ludwig Senfl and “Ach, Weh des Leiden” by Hans Leo Hassler. They will end their performance with Hassler’s lively “Tanzen und Springen,” which features the traditional “fa-la-las” of madrigal style.
The University Singers, directed by School of Music professor Dean Luethi, will present an All-American program, including the African American spiritual “Hush! Somebody’s Callin’ My Name” and “Gentle Annie,” arranged by Dennis Eliot. They also will sing “Cloths of Heaven” by contemporary composer Z. Randall Stroope and the American Civil War song “Down by the Riverside.”
Wiest also will direct the Concert Choir in a culturally diverse program featuring two Cuban folk tunes, “Drume Negrita” and “El Manisero,” by Tania León, the composer-in-residence for the Festival of Contemporary Art Music. They will then perform two French a cappella selections by Camille Saint-Saëns, contrasting the stillness of night in “Calme des Nuit” to the lighter “Les fleurs et les arbres.” The final song, “Glory Day!” from the 2003 opera Gabriel’s Daughter, is a libretto written by Broadway playwright William Luce of Oregon and composed by Henry Mollicone of California.
