The rich variety of voices in the Choral area of the School of Music will be on full display during this concert as the University Singers, the Matador Singers (Men's Chorale), and the Women's Chorale all regale with song from around the world.
For the University Singers, American harmony and poetry from names like Stephen Foster and Sara Teasdale will stand alongside the percussively exuberant Christmas tune "Ogo ni fun Oluwa!" ("Glory to God in the highest!"), which is sung in the Nigerian language of Yoruba.
The Matador Singers will traverse three continents as their set begins with a traditional Georgian tune called "Naduri." American religious interest continues in the gentlemen's renditions of Aaron Copland's setting of the revivalist tune "Zion's Walls" and a spiritual called "I'm a-Rollin'." Diversions to England come from Handel and Tallis, and the men's set will close with the wildly popular and hilarious Pirate Song by Tim Y. Jones, a.k.a. "Mister Tim."
The sub-Saharan African connection will be taken up by the Women's Chorale as well, as they perform the traditional song "Ndikhokhele Bawo" in the South African language of Xhosa. A vista of Norway in Ola Gjeilo's Tundra will also be in the Women's Chorale's set as they evoke the Hardangervidda mountain plateau along with the added color of a string quartet. The concert will close vigorously as Trinidadian steel drums join the ladies' voices for the Kyrie from Glenn McClure's Caribbean Mass.
