Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Kantorei Purple and Kantorei White choirs at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform a virtual concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28, that will feature works from the Renaissance era along with favorite hymns.
The concert’s theme, “The Joy of Singing,” is designed to showcase the importance of choral performance in a COVID world that silenced voices for a period of time, according to Dr. Tod Fish, associate director of choral activities at SFA.
“Our global society has been deprived of hearing people sing for nearly half of this year,” Fish said. “This is a sort of ‘mini-concert’ to jumpstart the students’ semester and to give folks the opportunity to hear choirs sing again.”
The two Kantorei choirs were previously the SFA Women’s Choir. “We decided, as a vocal/choral faculty, that it was time to change the names of our choirs to make them less gender exclusive,” Fish said. Dividing the choir into two units was a result of COVID guidelines restricting large gatherings.
The concert features Grant Peterson, first-year graduate student in choral conducting from Wylie, and Greg Simmons, graduate collaborative pianist from Tyler.
Kantorei Purple will sing the great Renaissance composition, Orlando di Lasso’s “Adoramus te,” conducted by Peterson. Kantorei White will sing Gustav Holst’s “Hymn to the Dawn” from Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda op. 26 Set 3.
Both choirs will come together to perform arrangements by composers who are friends of Fish.
“The choir will sing a setting of ‘Give Me Jesus’ by my dear friend and proud SFA alum Reginal Wright, who is the head choral director at Mansfield High School,” Fish said. “They will also perform Dr. Brian Bondari’s setting of ‘Amazing Grace.’” Bondari is professor of theory and composition at Trinity University.
To access the live concert free of charge, visit music.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the School of Music at (936) 468-4602.