This Saturday, the Lawrence University Chorale, Women’s Choir, and Concert Choir will present their seventh annual world music concert, “Around the World, Op. VII.” It will feature music from many different areas, including Brazil, Africa, China, Israel, Cuba, Japan, Korea, Georgia, France, Italy, Greece, and the United States. The performance will include well-known works by Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, and Gioacchino Rossini.
Women’s Choir member Emily Fink said that concert-goers can expect a “fun” and “lighthearted” concert with a “good atmosphere.” She also noted that the concert will be shorter than previous choir concerts.
Students are excited to perform a multi-cultural concert. “One of the pieces sounds basically like yodeling, except it’s Georgian,” said Matt Murphy, a Concert Choir member.
Phillip A. Swan, director of Women’s Choir, recently had the opportunity to travel to the Far East. His newly acquired knowledge of Japan and China influenced his selection of pieces for the upcoming concert. In some pieces, the singers are required to use special vocal techniques to achieve culture-specific sounds. Swan explained that “the sound for the ‘Three Chinese Songs,’ for example, will be quite different than our usual warm, round, choral tone, as we attempt to accurately portray the style of this musical culture.”
Many of the pieces to be performed are reprises from a concert April 8 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. With Saturday’s concert, the pieces will reach a larger audience. The concert is free and open to the public. It will take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, in Memorial Chapel.
Lawrence Choirs go ‘Around the World’
