DePauw University Choirs to celebrate beauty of the Earth with Sunday concert

Friday, October 4, 2013
Courtesy photo
The DePauw University Chorus and Chamber Singers will present a choral concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Green Center for the Performing Arts at DPU.

As Peace Camp comes to a close, the DePauw University School of Music will present a concert Sunday evening celebrating the beauty of the Earth through the music of different cultures.

The 7:30 p.m. performance by the DePauw University Chorus and Chamber Singers will be conducted by Prof. Gregory Ristow and accompanied by pianist Owen Hartnett, organist Carla Edwards and the DePauw University Band.

The concert, which also features a special guest appearance by DePauwCappella, will be in Kresge Auditorium, in DePauw's Judson and Joyce Green Center for the Performing Arts.

Among the eclectic array of works on the program are Louie Armstrong's trademark "What a Wonderful World," music from Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" and an a cappella arrangement of Imogen Heap's rock ballad "Earth."

The concert will conclude with "From the Navajo Children for Chorus and Wind Ensemble" by American composer Donald White.

A dramatic piece that evokes the vastness of the western landscapes, it features the power of a hunt and the crystalline beauty of a first snow through use of percussion and musical sound effects.

White, who will be in attendance at the concert, was a member of the DePauw University School of Music faculty for 34 years. During the period from 1948--81, he served as chairman of composition and theory studies and as the school's director from 1974--78.

"White's piece communicates to me on a very personal level because I grew up attending powwows with my best friend, Sunrise, a Comanche Indian," Ristow said. "The sounds evoked by the band are exactly the sounds I remember while I was growing up.

"The words," the conductor added, "which are drawn from a book of poetry by Navajo children, speak to a culture that is directly in touch with the earth and its seasons. This connection is something we all share, but it is often overwhelmed by the inundations of the modern world."

General admission tickets for DePauw Choir concerts in the Judson and Joyce Green Center are $3. Admission is free for all students, children and seniors over 65.

For more information, persons may contact Ristow (gregoryristow@depauw.edu). To purchase tickets, visit www.depauw.edu/music/tickets, stop by the box office on the ground floor of the Green Center at 605 S. College Ave., or call 658-4827.

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