ISU choral concert scheduled May 4

The Idaho State University Choirs will present a spring choral concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 4, in the Joseph C. and Cheryl H. Jensen Grand Concert Hall in the L.E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center.

Dr. Scott E. Anderson, ISU director of choral activities, will conduct the ISU Chamber Choir and the ISU Concert Choir, while professor Kathleen Lane will conduct the ISU Women’s Choir. The Highland High School Senior Choir, under the direction of Stephen Baer, will join the ISU groups as special music guests during the concert.

Anderson and the ISU Chamber Choir will present a program of many languages and styles. The 22-voice choral ensemble will perform “Viver lieto voglio,” a 16th-century balleto by Giovanni Gastoldi; two madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi, “Anima mia, perdona” and “Che se tu se’ il cor mio”; three of Paul Hindemith’s “Six Chansons” (set to the French poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke); two-part songs from Johannes Brahms’ “Op. 92, Abendlied and Warum”; and the Eric Whitacre setting of Federico Garcia Lorca’s poem, “With Lily in Your Hand.” Abbi Clark, a graduate of the ISU Department of Music, is the pianist for the Chamber Choir and will be featured on the Brahms part songs.

The ISU Women’s Choir will feature two selections by the English composer Gustav Holst. The two numbers are settings of poems by the ancient mystical poet, Kalidasa. They are atmospheric explorations of nature’s representations of “I. Spring” and “II. Summer.” The “Ave Maria” setting by Johannes Brahms for four-part women’s chorus and piano will also be featured. The final selection of the group will be a rousing arrangement of the early American folk hymn, “Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal” by Alice Parker.

Baer will lead the 68-voice Highland High School Senior Choir in performance of “Gloria” by David Giardiniere; Ralph Vaughan Williams’ setting of “Sweet Day, Omnia Sol” by Z. Randall Stroope; and André Thomas’s arrangement of “Keep Your Lamps.”

The ISU Concert Choir, also conducted by Anderson, will perform “In virtute tua, Domine” by Polish composer Grzegorz G. Gorczycki. This selection will feature Dr. Erika Schulte and Blake Tanner, violins; Mark Anderson, cello; and Abbi Clark, harpsichord. The Concert Choir also will present Rachmaninoff’s setting of “Bogoroditse Devo,” “Cantique de Jean Racine” by Gabrielle Faure, “Gate Gate” by Brian Tate, and Jack Halloran’s arrangement of “Nelly Bly” as recorded by Chanticleer.

The performance will close with Mack Wilberg’s arrangement of “El Vito!” sung by the combined ISU Choirs and the Highland High School Senior Choir.

Tickets are available online at www.isu.edu/tickets, or by calling the Stephens Center Box Office at (208) 282-3595. Standard ticket prices are: $5 for adults, $2 for precollege students, $3 for ISU faculty and staff and free for ISU students. For more information, call the ISU Department of Music at (208) 282-3636.