MOUNT VERNON -- Cornell College music ensembles will perform in two spring concerts during April. Both concerts are in King Chapel and admission is free.
The Cornell Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Martin Hearne, performs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 16. The concert will feature two chamber ensembles: the Cornell Woodwind Quintet will perform a movement of a quintet by Haydn, and the Cornell Brass Quintet will perform three spirituals by John Barnes Chance, "Go Down Moses," "My Lord, What a Morning" and "Joshua."
Two guest conductors -- junior Andrew Buck of Highland, Ill., and junior John Feldman of Lisbon -- will direct the Wind Ensemble in the two movements of "English Folk Song Suite" by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The Cornell Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, under the direction of Lisa Hearne, perform at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 18.
The Concert Choir's program will feature American folk songs "Shenandoah" and "Down in the Valley," sung by men's chorus, plus two opera choruses, "Neighbors' Chorus" by Offenbach and "O pastorelle, addio" by Giordano, sung by women's chorus. The program also includes "O Schöne Nacht" by Johannes Brahms, and the American spiritual "Great Day" with soloists Jim Thompson of Mount Pleasant and Amber Swenson of Brooklyn Park, Minn., both vocal music education majors.
The Chamber Singers will present jazz selections "Smile" and "When I Fall in Love," as well as madrigals and motets from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Featured works include Hungarian composer Gyorgy Orban's dramatic anthem "Daemon Irrepit Callidus," Norman Dello Joio's "Come to Me, My Love," based on poetry by Christina Rossetti, and John Tavener's "The Lamb," based on the poem by William Blake. The finale, "Tangueando" by Argentinian composer Oscar Escalada, is a showpiece based on polyrhythms and nonsensical syllables created by the composer.
