SMSU Chorale to perform Thursday at First Lutheran

On Thursday, the SMSU Chorale will present a concert titled “Songs of the Earth and Stars” at 7:30 p.m. at First Lutheran Church of Marshall (100 Church St.).

“The concert is ultimately about timelessness,” said SMSU’s Director of Choral Activities, Dr. Stephen Kingsbury. “The music that we will be performing depicts the mystery and the majesty of the earth and the cosmos and our relationship to both. There is a deep and almost mystical connection between the stuff of the universe, which exists on a scale of time that is almost too massive to conceive, and the brief amount of time that we have to experience that timelessness. The music on the program seeks to explore both the connection itself as well as some of the magic that surrounds it.” The program will include pieces by composers such as James MacMillan, Eric Whitacre, Ola Gjeilo, Daniel Elder, Guillaume du Fay, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Edward Elgar, Stephen Chatman, Jenni Brandon and Williametta Spencer.

According to Kingsbury, Songs of the Earth and Stars is also significant because it will also be serving as a farewell concert of sorts for the Chorale, which performs the next day at the annual convention of the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota in Mahtomedi.

“We have the great honor of having been asked to perform at the annual conference of the American Choral Directors of Minnesota. On Friday morning we will travel to St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi where we will perform a portion of Thursday evening’s concert for the assembled choral musicians and educators who will have traveled from across the state in order to learn more about the choral art and to be inspired by the performances of the choirs who have been asked to perform. We are humbled and honored to have the opportunity to perform at the conference. I believe this is the first time in the history of SMSU that one of our choirs has been invited to perform. Next to our performance a couple of years ago at Carnegie Hall, this is the highest profile performance that we’ve ever been asked to give, and certainly the highest profile performance that we’ve given in our home state,” he said.

The Chorale is SMSU’s elite, mixed choral ensemble. It specializes in the performance of a wide range of sacred and secular choral literature of all historical periods, voicings, and nationalities. Repertoire includes unaccompanied works for a cappella choir as well as works performed with professional instrumental ensembles. The SMSU Chorale is open to all students, regardless of major, by audition.

The concert is free and open to the public.