The Tusculum College Community Chorus will perform “Rutter’s Requiem,” one of today’s best loved choral works during its spring concert Monday, May 5, at Tusculum College.
The concert, which is free and open to the public, will be at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building on the Tusculum campus.
The first half of the program will be a performance of “Requiem” by John Rutter. The most common topics of art are the most mysterious and profound characteristics of human experience – love and death, Dr. David Hendricksen, conductor of the Community Chorus, noted during a lecture about the requiem earlier this month. Requiems were originally the addition of music to the texts used in the funeral mass, Hendricksen said, and evolved both lyrically and musically over the centuries.
In his work, John Rutter incorporates characteristics of previous requiems, Hendricksen explained. The piece was written in 1985 after the death of Rutter’s father. Hendricksen explained that Rutter was concerned with practicality so he wrote two versions – one for an orchestra and chorus and a scaled down version that could be performed by small music ensembles and choirs.
The Community Chorus will be accompanied by an instrumental ensemble of outstanding professional musicians in performing “Requiem.” Beth Brimer and Jill Jones are the two soloists. James Winfree will be accompanist for the Community Chorus throughout the concert.
After intermission, the choir will sing a medley of music from “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein, and a whimsical setting of “Five Nursery Rhymes” by Ralph Hunter.
Founded in 1996 as a way to involve singers from throughout the community in a broad range of sacred and secular repertoire, the Tusculum College Community Chorus has grown to more than 50 singers. For further information, please contact conductor David Hendricksen by phone at 638-0409 or email: conductordavid@embarqmail.com
For more information, please contact Tusculum College Arts Outreach at 423-798-1620, or email jhollowell@tusculum.edu.