MEADVILLE, Pa. - Nov. 23, 2005 - The Allegheny College Choirs will present their annual Christmas concert on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. in Shafer Auditorium. The concert celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Allegheny Singers under Morten J. Luvaas. The event is free and open to the public.
The program will include four different choirs and a variety of music, both sacred and secular. The College Chorus, Chamber Choir, Women's Ensemble and Concert Choir will perform under the direction of Ward Jamison, director of choral activities.
In addition to the choral groups, five student soloists will perform during the concert. Appearing with the Choir will be soloist Christina Dastolfo, singing the Italian lullaby carol “Dormi, dormi, bel bambin” in an arrangement by Margrethe Hokanson, who taught at Allegheny in the 1940s. The Women's Ensemble will sing the Gloria movement from “Missa Hosanna” by Noel Goemanne, with solos by Jessica Bailey, Sarah Flamini, Jessica Badach and JoAnn Yovetich.
Among the secular pieces on the program will be “The Lute” by Stanley Hoffman, a piece for women's chorus based on a 13th-century Jewish text by Judah Al-Harizi. It will be sung by the Women's Ensemble along with a setting by Clyde Tipton of a William Blake poem, “The Shepherd.” The Chorus will sing “Hiney ma tov,” a Hebrew folk song arranged by Iris Levine. The four choirs will join together to sing the Ukrainian Bell Carol. Alla Meleshevich, instructional technologist in the Office of Educational Technology, has coached the singers on the pronunciation of the original Ukrainian text, which forecasts prosperity in the New Year.
Music on more traditional holiday subjects will include liturgical works such as Tomas Luis da Victoria's “O magnum mysterium” and Healey Willan's “Hodie Christus natus est,” both of which will be sung by the Chamber Choir. An English version of a “Kolyadki,” a Ukrainian carol, will be sung by the Women's Ensemble. The Chorus will perform “Let us who sing,” a sacred work by the Russian composer Dmitri Bortnianski.
Several works will present holiday fare in a lighter tone, including “Bright, Bright the Holly Berries” by Alfred Burt, sung by the Chamber Choir. The Chorus will perform “Heard About a Newborn King,” a newly composed piece in the style of an African-American spiritual. The Choir will sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in an arrangement by Arthur Warrell.
To highlight the 75th anniversary of Allegheny's choral tradition, the choirs will perform four works specifically connected with Allegheny. In addition to the lullaby by Margrethe Hokanson, the Choir will sing Donald Cervone's setting of “Nunc dimittis,” which he wrote in memory of Morten Luvaas. Cervone is a Meadville native and Allegheny graduate. The Chamber Choir will sing “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Crawford Thoburn, who was a composition student of Luvaas's. The finale of the concert will be Luvaas's “King of Peace and Glory,” performed by the combined choirs.
For more information about the concert, contact Ward Jamison in the Allegheny Music Department, 332-3305.
