IYGB
What: Combined Choirs and Symphony Orchestra Concert
Where: Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Admission: Free
As voices sound and bow and string grind, stories will be told and the arrival of spring will be celebrated through song.
Saturday, the Ohio University Combined Choirs and Symphony Orchestra will perform one last time in Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, singing “In Windsór Forest,” by R. Vaughan Williams, “Canto a la libertad” by Amadeo Vives, and Anton Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 4, Romantic.”
The combined choirs, which include the University Singers, Choral Union, Singing Men of Ohio and Women’s Chorale, will perform “Canto a la libertad,” which means “Hymn to Freedom,” and then combine with the Symphony Orchestra to then perform “In Windsór Forest.”
Daniel Hall, director of choral activities at OU, said “In Windsór Forest,” based off of Shakespeare’s play “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” was a perfect, lighthearted piece for a concert to celebrate the coming of spring and end of the school year.
“It is a piece that I’ve always wanted to do,” Hall said. “I think the audience will enjoy it, just because the group has really bought in, they’re really articulating well, and they’re really into the story of it.”
Chuck Kemp, a sophomore studying psychology and a member of Singing Men of Ohio, said the story in all of the pieces is what he thinks will make the concert engaging for the audience, because there are narratives that attendees can connect to.
Kemp added that the pieces in the concert, while challenging with difficult rhythms, were ultimately satisfying once the performers began to work through and perfect the music.
“It’s like going up a climbing wall,” Kemp said about working with the music. “Every time, you get a little bit farther and a little bit better, and that feels good.”
Steven Huang, professor of instrumental conducting – orchestral, said the material in the concert, while large and lengthy, were chosen because they were examples of the high quality work that OU students are capable of performing.
“I think the main thing is to come and see what the Ohio University musicians are capable of doing,” Huang said. “(This is) the pinnacle of our achievements that we have been doing this year, and (it is) the height of our musical maturity.”
ds834910@ohiou.edu
