Spring Choral Concert Planned for April 30
Contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary’s College
(574) 284-4579
April 15, 2015 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—The Saint Mary’s College Department of Music will soon present the Spring Choral Concert with performances by the Saint Mary’s Women’s Choir and Collegiate Choir as well as Bellacappella, a student a cappella ensemble. The concert will take place on Thursday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Little Theater of Moreau Center of the Arts. The South Bend-area community is encouraged to come and enjoy a night filled with a variety of music. Tickets for the Spring Choral Concert can be purchased on the Moreau Center for the Arts website or by calling the Box Office at (574) 284-4626.
Music professor Nancy Menk, musical director of both choirs, regularly commissions and performs new works for women’s voices. This year’s Spring Choral Concert will include the rarely heard Chant Funebre (Funeral Song) and Chant Nuptial (Wedding Song) by French composer Ernest Chausson.
“The concert is the culmination of many hours of rehearsal, and a chance for us to show the audience the repertoire we have prepared for them,” said Menk. “I am especially excited for the performance of Laudate Dominum (Psalm 150), written by Notre Dame graduate and staff member Carolyn Pirtle, who will be hearing her piece in concert for the very first time.”
The Women’s Choir is a select 36-voice ensemble. The choir is recognized for its excellence and has performed nationally and internationally. Over Thanksgiving weekend in 2014, the choir performed at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. In June 2012 the choir appeared in concert for the American Choral Directors Association National Symposium on American Choral Music in Washington, D.C. Also that year, the Women’s Choir was named Second Place Winners for The American Prize in Choral Performance. In 2011, the Women’s Choir traveled to Nanjing, Suzhou, and Shanghai, China to sing at different colleges and universities. On April 25, they will perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra at the Morris Performing Arts Center.
The Collegiate Choir performs primarily on campus, giving at least one concert per semester and performing in the annual service of Lessons and Carols during the Advent season.
Bellacappella, Saint Mary’s premiere a cappella ensemble, will also perform selected songs. This student-run group loves performing throughout the year both on campus and throughout surrounding communities. Started in 2006, Bellacappella continually adds songs to their repertoire, all of which are arranged by members of the group.
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, residential, women’s liberal arts college offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study, such as business, nursing, art, chemistry, and social work. In the fall of 2015 Saint Mary’s College will begin to offer two graduate degrees: a Master of Science and a Doctorate. All programs that fall under these degrees are co-educational and include a Master of Science in Data Science, a Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology, and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice. Founded in 1844 by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Saint Mary’s College’s mission is to educate students, develop their talents, and prepare them to make a difference in the world. Saint Mary’s College ranks among the top 100 Best National Liberal Arts Colleges for 2015 published by U.S. News & World Report.
~Maggie McLaughlin ’16, media relations intern, wrote this press release.