6-3-08

Media Release

OSU Chamber Choir Presents President’s Concert, Heads to Germany

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State University Chamber Choir, directed by Steven M. Zielke, will finish its performance season with the fourth annual President’s Concert on Saturday, June 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 1165 N.W. Monroe St., Corvallis.

This year’s President’s Concert, “Bon Voyage: Songs to Cross the Great Pond,” celebrates the choir’s upcoming tour to southern Germany. The performance will feature music by Brahms, Scarlatti, Viadana, Bruckner, and South American composer Alberto Ginastera, as well as American spirituals and folk songs.

The program will also include the premiere of “The Little Girl Who Danced,” a commissioned work for marimba, choir, and soloists, arranged by Tomas Svoboda, and based on the poem “How a Little Girl Danced” by Vachel Lindsay. It features OSU percussion director, Robert Brudvig, on marimba.

The winning piece from OSU’s first Kraft Choral Composition Challenge will also be performed. Rebecca Stager’s composition, “Were You There,” won the competition, named for Rose Kraft, an OSU alumna and friend of the music department. Stager, who sings in the Chamber Choir, is a senior majoring in vocal performance, piano performance, and music education.

This final concert of the performance season is referred to as the President’s Concert in honor of OSU President Ed Ray, and his wife, Beth Ray, to honor them for a choral leadership endowment they helped to establish. It caps off a busy year of singing that included performing with the Oregon Mozart Players in the final concert of their 25th anniversary season, as well as an invited performance at the Northwest American Choral Directors Association Conference in Vancouver, B.C.

The President’s Concert will also include the preview of a documentary titled “One Hundred Years of Song at Oregon State University,” scheduled for release in November.

Just days after this performance, the choir will leave for Germany, where it will perform seven concerts over 10 days in cities including Stuttgart, Freiburg, and Tübingen. The Chamber Choir will appear on the Friday Church Music Series at the Evangelische Stiftskirche of Stuttgart, and perform at a gala concert commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Oregon - Baden Württemberg academic exchange program.

Admission to the President’s Concert is $10 at the door.

For more information contact the OSU Department of Music at 541-737-4061, or go to: http://oregonstate.edu/cla/music