Fredonia Chamber Singers to give spring concert March 28

Having recently returned from their annual Spring Recruitment Tour of New York State, the Fredonia Chamber Singers will present their post-tour spring concert on Sunday, March 28 at 4 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall under the direction of Dr. Donald P. Lang.

During its tour, the Chamber Singers performed in concert and presented choral workshops at St. Mark’s Church in Westhampton Beach, at Eastport-South Manor High School, Monticello High School, Washingtonville High School, Niskayuna High School, at the Niskayuna Reformed Church, at Pulaski High School, Sandy Creek High School, the Presbyterian Church in Copenhagen, and at Webster High School.

One of the many highlights of their spring concert will be a performanceof  Amao Omi (Senseless/Vain War) by the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli. Written for choir accompanied by saxophone quartet, this work is an evocative, subtle, and poignant work, which draws its textual material from individual words related to the nature, landscape, culture, and tradition of Georgia. Its intimacy suggests that it should be heard as a “plea for inward and outward peace”.

This piece will also feature the collective talents of the Erie Saxophone Quartet, which was recently formed in 2006 to promote the saxophone as a voice in classical chamber music. Following the vision of its inventor, Adolphe Sax, the Erie Quartet strives to utilize the many tonal colors and the extreme flexibility of the saxophone through interpretation of new music and transcriptions. The Erie Quartet now boasts over a dozen works written expressly for the ensemble. They will also be featured in works for saxophone quartet as part of the program.

The Chamber Singers will also perform Some Thoughts on Keats and Coleridge by the 20th century American composer Earl Kim. These five short pieces, settings of fragments from poems by two of the greatest English Romantic poets, are imaginative and engaging because of Kim’s harmonic treatment of this remarkable poetry.

Some of the other featured choral works on the Chamber Singers’ tour program include “I Hear a Rhapsody” and “Autumn Leaves , arranged by Ron Drotos, a talented jazz pianist and arranger from New York City. Their concert will also feature the wide variety of folk songs, Broadway show-tunes, and jazz arrangements that are typically performed by this stellar and versatile choral ensemble.

In the past thirty years, the Fredonia Chamber Singers have performed in concert in England, Wales, and Scotland eight times, as well as on the European continent on several occasions.

Most recently, the Chamber Singers undertook a highly successful concert tour to Puerto Rico in January of this year. They have also performed in Israel, Germany, Jamaica, and on the east and west coasts of America. Their recordings have been heard on German national radio and on the BBC. They have also performed live on Scottish National Radio and TV. The Chamber Singers received a special invitation in 2006 to participate as the first choral ensemble to ever perform at the International Guitar Congress Convention in Columbus, Georgia.

In his thirtieth year of service as music director of the Fredonia Chamber Singers, Dr. Lang is also in great demand as a guest conductor, choral clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States. He was designated Director of Choral Activities for the School of Music five years ago and he was awarded the president’s award for Excellence in Teaching at Fredonia in 2000.