FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                          March 1, 2005 

NORTHWESTERN CHOIRS TO PERFORM WINTER CHORAL CONCERT 

            The Winter Choral Concert presented by Northwestern Oklahoma State University will be at 3 p.m., Sunday, March 6, in the First Presbyterian Church at 628 Church Street in Alva. The concert is free and the public is invited.

            The program will feature the Concert Choir and University Chorale in sacred choral works. The choirs will be accompanied by Dr. Rodney Murrow, professor of music. Dr. Aija Shrader, assistant professor of music, will be the featured soloist and Dr. James Shrader, professor of music, will conduct the groups.

            The concert opens with the University Chorale singing Tulsa composer Michael Bedford’s 2004 setting of “Psalm 96” for choir, trumpet and organ. Alva senior Curtis Conner will be the trumpet soloist.

The Chorale also will sing “Caritas et Amor” by Nebraska composer Z. Randall Stroope. The piece was composed in 2003 and is scored for a cappella choir. It is based on the 10th century antiphon “Ubi caritas” (Where there is charity and love, God is there).

            The Concert Choir will sing Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Mass No. 7 in Bb Major,” also known as the “Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo (Brief Mass of St. John of God). Written in 1761, the piece also is known as “The Little Organ Mass.” It will feature Dr. Murrow as organ soloist and accompanist, with Dr. Aija Shrader as soprano soloist for the Benedictus. The work also will feature student soloists: soprano Jillian Bartow, Laverne freshman; alto Esther Hougham, Carbonado, Wash., senior; tenor Kevin Kerr, Conway Springs, Kan., sophomore; and bass Bryan Pope, Laverne graduate student.

            The program will conclude with the University Chorale singing a cycle of three sacred pieces titled “God’s Grandeur” by Vermont composer Gwyneth Walker. The cycle was written in 2002 and is scored for divided unaccompanied choir. It features the poetry of Englishman Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1899). The same student vocal soloists will be featured.

            For more information, contact Dr. James Shrader at (580) 327-8591 or jashrader@nwosu.edu.

-NW-

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