Three choral ensembles from Western Michigan University's Irving S. Gilmore School of Music will perform a storytelling-themed concert Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Dalton Center Recital Hall.
With WMUK's Cara Lieurance, Dr. Amanda Quist, Director of Choral Activities, and Assistant Professor Dr. Jacob Berglin discuss the program featuring University Chorale, a mixed-voice ensemble, Anima, featuring treble voices, and Amphion, a tenor-bass choir. The concert explores storytelling through diverse musical selections.
In choral music, "so much of what we do is text based," Quist explains, from which storytelling elements naturally arise. The University Chorale will perform Eric Whitacre's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," formerly titled "Sleep," featuring Robert Frost's poem that Whitacre finally secured rights to after years.
Amphion's set centers on the 50th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy. "From day one, I knew that this year...we would be performing" Gordon Lightfoot's iconic song, Berglin says. The arrangement by Alan Dunbar includes guitar and cello accompaniment. "I was surprised to see how many students didn't know about it," Berglin adds.
The program also features a setting by Western alumna Johnaye Kendrick, now part of Grammy-nominated group säje. Anima will perform their "Desert Song" with 65 voices, adapting the original four-voice composition. The University Chorale will sing a setting of Dougie MacLean's folk song "Caledonia" in a seeting by another Western alum, Blake Morgan of Voces8.
Tickets cost $18 general admission, $14 for seniors, and $6 for students/staff, available at wmich.edu/music/events or at the door. The 80-minute concert requires no intermission.
