One of Ohio University’s most prestigious music ensembles will gather tonight for a concert.
The University Singers will come together tonight at 7:30 p.m. The event was originally going to be held at the Ridges Auditorium, however Dr. Peter Jarjisian, director of choral activities, switched the venue to First United Methodist Church.
The University Singers are considered a “mixed choir,” meaning the ensemble is made up of both men and women, 70 percent of whom are music majors.
Jarjisian stated that the ensemble is comprised of the music department’s top sopranos, altos, tenors and bases.
The group will sing “Long and Winding Road,” “When I’m 64” and “Yesterday” by the Beatles, “Ave Maria” by composer Aton Bruckner and “Prayer” by RenéClausen, among others.
The ensemble’s most challenging piece of the night will be an a capella presentation of “Jesus and the Traders,” a song composed by Zoltán Kodály which tells the tale from Mark 11:15 of Jesus knocking over the merchant tables in the Temple of Jerusalem.
This song with not be accompanied by instruments, Jarjisian said, and singers will have to rely on each other to stay on beat and find their places, since the beats and chords in the song change periodically.
The last song of the concert will be a piece from Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn. Jarjisian chose the song because he didn’t think the movie did the song’s rhetoric any justice.
“You don’t get the depth of the song the way the scene is constructed,” Jarjisian said.
The concert will also feature organ major Netascie Jones, who is preparing for a competition.
cd221907@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCulture
