Concerts set for April 20 and 22

The Cornell College Orchestra, Chamber singers and Concert Choir will perform concerts in King Chapel on April 20 and 22 as part of the events of Inauguration weekend.

The orchestra will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 20 under the direction of Martin Hearne. They will play Mozart’s “Overture to Don Giovanni,” Rossini’s “Variations for Clarinet and Small Orchestra” and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 in e minor, known as “the New World Symphony.”

Dean of the College Joe Dieker, who plays clarinet, will perform a solo during “Variations for Clarinet and Small Orchestra.”

The chamber singers and concert choir will perform at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 22 under the direction of Lisa Hearne. Among the pieces the chamber singers will perform are Tim Sarsany’s “Listen to a Jubilant Song” and Paul Rardin’s “My spirit is uncaged,” both taken from text in Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.”

Among the concert choir pieces are “Images of Stars,” a world-premiere piece written for Cornell by Richard Ewer, the father of a Cornell senior and “Tshotsholoza,” a South African miner’s folk song featured in the film “Invictus” and made famous at the 2010 World Cup finals in Johannesburg. “Images of Stars” uses the words and imagery of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Ewer is a successful composer of works for all mediums, as well as an accomplished performer and educator.

Both concerts are free and open to the public. The events are among the many planned for the weekend that celebrate the students, faculty and campus of Cornell.