Chamber Singers Fall Concert: Music of American Composers

• Friday, November 20, 2009
• Old Cabell Hall
• 8:00pm
• Free

The UVa Chamber Singers continue the fall season of UVa choral music with a program of accompanied music by American composers. Conducted by UVa faculty member Michael Slon and accompanied by pianist David Norfrey, the concert will feature works of Samuel Barber, Randall Thompson, Stephen Sondheim, Aaron Copland, James Mulholland, Forrest Pierce, and UVa composer Judith Shatin – along with projections of visual art accompanying the music. The concert takes place Friday, November 20, 2009 at 8:00 pm in Old Cabell Hall, and is free of charge to the public.

In addition to music by Samuel Barber (“Sure on This Shining Night”), Aaron Copland (Old American Songs), and former UVa faculty member Randall Thompson (“The Last Words of David” and “The Lord is My Shepherd”), the November 20 concert will present work by a number of living American composers. The program includes excerpts from “Ancient Winters” by Forrest Pierce, who currently serves on faculty at the University of Kansas, as well as music of James Mulholland, who has been a professor at Butler University for more than four decades. An excerpt from “Songs of War and Peace” by Judith Shatin, Professor of Composition and Director of the Virginia Center for Computer Music at UVa, will also be heard. And the program will offer a unique gem from Broadway: the concluding chorus from Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George.

Founded in 2005 and conducted by Michael Slon, the UVa Chamber Singers is a select subset of the University Singers. The group performs a wide variety of music for chamber choir ranging from early music to contemporary compositions. Past performances have included the Palestrina Missa Brevis, Bach’s Cantata 150 and Cantata 61, Schubert's Mass in G, Brahms' Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat, Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia, and Orff's Carmina Burana (where they sang the coro piccolo) with the University Singers and Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra. In addition, the group has performed popular standards by Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Billy Joel, and new music by Meredith Monk (with the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble) and Eric Whitacre. Already recognized as one of the best in Virginia, the ensemble has also been invited to appear next April at the acclaimed Staunton Music Festival in a program of Schubert and Brahms.

Join us on November 20 for a beautiful and exciting evening of music.

For more information visit www.virginia.edu/music/chambersingers