Late fall unveils a banquet of choral music opportunities
The end of the semester is high performance season for the university’s choral groups, when they present pieces they have mastered while perfecting their ensemble singing skills.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison has a group with repertoire to please every choral taste, from the intimate, a cappella Madrigal Singers to the powerful Choral Union, with 180-plus singers in performance with the University Chamber Orchestra.
All concerts are in Mills Concert Hall in the Mosse Humanities Building and all are free except the Choral Union performances.
Those who really fancy choral music can make a day of it on Sunday, Nov. 18, with four choirs in performance. The Women’s Chorus and University Chorus perform at 2 p.m.; the Chorale and Madrigal Singers take the stage that evening at 7:30 p.m.
The 35 undergraduate and graduate students in the Women’s Chorus study and perform a wealth of literature for female voices. The program will include "Gloria tibi" by Leonard Bernstein, "A Song of Music" by Paul Hindemith, and an excerpt from "A Ceremony of Carols" by Benjamin Britten.
The Women’s Chorus is directed by graduate students Ryan Dugger and Kyuil Yoon.
The University Chorus is 90 members strong, made up of singers learning choral and vocal techniques and the musical styles of different periods. The program includes compositions from the 13th century as well as American spirituals. Highlights include "Psalm 81," arranged by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw, and works by Edward Elgar, Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms.
The University Chorus is directed by graduate student James Carrano.
Chorale includes 90 experienced student singers that perform a varied repertoire, ranging from ancient to contemporary. The Madrigal Singers is a select group of 34 student and community members. Contrary to its name, the Madrigal Singers do not perform early music to the exclusion of other styles. Instead, the group samples all types of compositions for small chamber choruses dating from the Renaissance to the present.
The Chorale and Madrigal Singers concert on Nov. 18 is titled, "Double Your Pleasure: A Polychoral Spectacular!" It features double, triple and quadruple choir music with the Chorale and Madrigal Singers singing divided in assorted configurations for parts of the program. The choirs will sing together for the last third of the program.
The program includes works by Brahms, Schumann and Mendelssohn. In addition, attendees will hear the world premiere of two pieces by resident composer Scott Gendel. In one composition, Gendel revisits William Byrd’s famous "Ave Verum Corpus," the other is a setting for four choirs of the folksong "Ten Thousand Miles."
Also on the program are the charming Magnificat by C.T. Pachelbel and Mack Wilberg’s rousing arrangement of "Cindy."
The Chorale and Madrigal Singers are conducted by Bruce Gladstone, associate director of choral activities at UW–Madison.
When the Choral Union takes the stage, it is hard to ignore. With 180-plus singers from campus and the community, and for this performance in concert with the Chamber Orchestra, you can expect big thrills, but the group also delivers sensitive interpretations. The Chamber Orchestra has approximately 40 student members and concentrates on the study and performance of orchestral, concerto, opera, and choral/orchestral masterworks of the 18th-21st centuries.
The two groups join on Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1, at 8 p.m., to present two works, "Stabat Mater" by Karol Szymanowski, which will be sung in Polish, and Mozart’s "Requiem."
Szymanowski’s "Stabat Mater" has elements of Polish folk music and rhythms as well as musical influences of the time it was written, in 1926. Some sections are quite solemn, while others raise the roof, without sacrificing a sense of the sacred.
The "Requiem" was Mozart’s last composition, written in 1791. It is one of his most powerful and recognized works, although there is great debate over how much of the work was actually written by Mozart before his death. The 1984 film "Amadeus" helped perpetuate some of the many myths that add to the work’s fame.
The choir and orchestra will be joined by soloists for both pieces. Soloists for Mozart’s "Requiem" are: Caitlin Cisler, soprano: Margaret Wendt, mezzo-soprano: James Kryshak, tenor: and Matthew Tintes, bass. Szymanowski soloists are: Saira Frank, soprano; Sarah Leuwerke, mezzo-soprano; and Scott Johnson, baritone.
Beverly Taylor, director of choral activities and professor of choral conducting , leads the Choral Union and will have the baton for the concerts. James Smith, professor of instrumental conducting, director of orchestras and conductor of University Opera, conducts the Chamber Orchestra.
Advance tickets for the Choral Union performance are available through the Wisconsin Union Theater Box Office. Order them online, in person during regular box office hours, by phone at (608) 262-2201 or by fax at (608) 265-5084.
Tickets are also available in the lobby of Mills Concert Hall one hour before concert time. Single tickets are $15, senior citizen tickets are $8 and all student tickets are $8.
The Masters Singers complete the busy concert season when the group performs on Monday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. The group of 45 undergraduate students will perform "My Spirit Sang All Day" by Finzi, "The Blue Bird" by Stanford, and "The Road Not Taken" by Thompson.
The Masters Singers are led by Carrano and Dugger.
