Department of Music's choirs to present spring concert on April 21

April 8, 2008 -- The Arkansas State University Concert Choir and University Singers Men’s and Women’s Choirs will be in concert on Monday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Fowler Center’s Riceland Hall, 201 Olympic Drive. Dr. Dale Miller, director of choral activities, and Justin Register, graduate conducting assistant, will lead the groups in selections from several musical style periods. The University Singers are accompanied by Luca Strazzullo, piano performance graduate student, and the Concert Choir is accompanied by Priscilla Noyes, also a graduate student majoring in piano performance.

The University Singers Women’s Choir will begin the program with “Whilst Youthful Sports,” a Renaissance madrigal by Thomas Weelkes; “Tantum Ergo,” a Romantic period motet by Franz Liszt; and three twentieth-century pieces, “As Costureiras” by Heitor Villa-Lobos, “Alleluia, Amen” by Randall Thompson, and “Laughing Song” by Lloyd Pfautsch. Graduate student Jessica Crociata will provide oboe accompaniment for the Pfautsch selection. The women’s choir will conclude their program with a Sweet Adeline-style arrangement of the popular tune, “In My Life.” 

The University Singers Men’s Choir will follow with a fanfare by Anton Bruckner;  “Ein Deutsches Lied;” “A New Heart Will I Give You” by John Ness Beck; a pair of spirituals, “Were You There” arranged by H. T. Burleigh and “Somebody’s Callin’ My Name” by Wendall Whalum; and the men’s choir will end with three barbershop-style pieces, “It’s a Blue World,” arranged by Glenda Casey, “Hey, Little Baby of Mine,” arranged by Joe Liles, and “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi,” arranged by Stokes/Verner, and conducted by the Men’s Choir president, senior music major Perry Harper.

The Concert Choir will present the final portion of the program. Their selections will include an early Baroque work, “Cantate Domino,” by Claudio Monteverdi, “Heilig” by Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn; two late twentieth-century Minimalist pieces, “Dryad’s Bells” by Stephen Chatman and “I Hide Myself” by Eric Whitacre; a recent composition by Eleanor Daley, “Life’s Mirror,” accompanied by  Priscilla Noyes and Katie Fischer, sophomore oboe major, and finally, “Witness,” a spiritual arranged by Jack Halloran.

Personnel for the ASU Concert Choir include Whitney Tucker of Wynne,  Angela
Jackson of Naylor, Mo., Pat Register of Huntsville, Elizabeth Schug of Paragould, Tiffany Mitchell of Springdale, Ashleigh Hutcheson of White Hall, Kari Rickman of Jonesboro, and Heather Stroud of Trumann, first sopranos; Mollie Black of Benton, Katie Fischer of Jacksonville, Renee Porter of Kingwood, Texas, Crystal Stormes of Goobertown, Amy Darnell of Poplar Bluff, Mo., Katherine Richards of Osceola, Stephanie Tesch of Jonesboro, and Melissa Jackson of Pine Bluff, second sopranos;  Lauren Bridges of Marmaduke, Tiffanie Holland of Bryant, Abby Craft and Rebecca Craft of Jonesboro, Sarah Moore of Dexter, Mo., Summer Duncan of Mountain View, Helen Ward of Little Rock, and Sarah Loughery of Harrisburg, first altos; Jessica Crociata of Tampa, Fla., Lisa Gray of Brookland, Savanna Hailey of Paragould, Susan Hulett of Mountain Home, Serita Mahone of Forrest City, Kimberley Toots and LeAnna Talley of Little Rock, Kristyn George of Jonesboro, and Lacey Griggs of Paragould, second altos; Maurice Butler of Wynne, Josh Dennis of Springfield, Mo.,  Galen Perkins of Bartlett, Tenn., Michael Coles of Augusta, Rusty Shields of Osceola , Elliott Andrews of Russellville, and Fletcher Teague of Hamburg, first tenors;  Ben Light of West Ridge, Justin Register of Huntsville, Ala., Dustin Sullivan of Kennett, Craig McAlister, Willie Sullivan and John Yerger of Jonesboro, Jeremy Carter of Paragould, Adam Rigney of Blytheville, and Wesley Hooper of Harrisburg, second tenors;  Patrick Manes of Bryant, Derrick Palmer of Brinkley, Nick Robbins of Manila, Skyler Mays of Cherokee Village, Heath Duncan of Mountain View, Josh Lovett of Hamburg, Mark Parsley of Malvern, and Sam Osborn of Paragould, baritones; Gabrien Brown of Newport, Brandon Stroud, Jarvis Brodie and Shane Gregory of Jonesboro, Perry Harper, Jonathan Trail, Blake Markum, and Jordan Nealy of Paragould, basses.

Additional members of the University Singers include Caitlyn Neece of  Vallejo, Cal., and Eva Shotwell of Manila, sopranos; Savanna Traylor of Mountain Home and Amanda Crosskno of Blytheville, altos; Evan Engels and Lance Patterson of Jonesboro, tenors; and Derrick Brockman of Jacksonville, Jerad Dugger of Pleasant Plains, Matt Ryals of Imboden, David Darnell of Helena-West Helena, Heath Duncan of Mountain View, and Perry Harper of Paragould, basses.

The concert is free and open to the public.  For further information, please call the choral office at  (870) 972-3841.

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