The Tusculum College Community Chorus will present its spring concert on Monday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Annie Hogan Byrd Auditorium on the Tusculum campus. The event is free and open to the public.
The Community Chorus is directed by Kathy May. The accompanist is Karen Miller.
The concert begins with “Musicks Empire” by Lloyd Pfautsch and is a tribute to the creation of the art of music. Following the opening song, are two Stephen Paulus songs, “The Old Church” and “The Road Home.” Stephen Paulus was an American composer who died in 2014.
According to Director May, what follows is the heaviest section of the concert, featuring two Latin works. The first is “Dixit” from “Vespere Solennes de Confessore” by W. A Mozart. The second is a Christopher Tye choral work, “Laudate Nomen Domini.”
The concert then moves onto love songs with “Come Again Sweet Love,” a Renaissance madrigal by John Dowland and “Flower of Beauty” by John Clements.
The women of the Tusculum Community Chorus will sing “No Time” in memory of departed chorus member and friend, Eileen Musbach. The men will follow with a spiritual in gospel style, “Swing Down Chariot.”
The Chorus will then focus on William Shakespeare’s “Three Madrigals,” which were set to music by Emma Lou Diemer. Gwyneth Walker’s beautiful and meaningful choral work, “The Tree of Peace,” follows, combining strength and tenderness to form a confluence of the message: a prayer for peace.
The last two numbers are spiritual, “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit” by William Dawson with soloist, Phil Thwing and the finale, “Ye Followers of the Lamb,” a Shaker song arranged by Edwin Earle Ferguson.
Founded in 1996 as a way to involve singers from throughout the community in a broad range of sacred and secular repertoire, the Tusculum Community Chorus has grown to more than 50 singers. For further information, please contact May by email at kmay@tusculum.edu.
The Tusculum Community Chorus, directed by Kathy May, will perform a spring concert at Tusculum.