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Rocky Mountain Music Alliance    2011-2012 Concert Series  Click on link for more information

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first christian church concerts

16 E. Platte Ave. (Cascade and Platte)
Contact: Carol Wilson, 633-8888  organist@firstchristiancos.org

 *Free will offering       #Must purchase tickets
www.firstchristiancos.org/music/fcc-concert-series   719/633-8888
                    OR
http://www.chamberorchestraofthesprings.org  719/633-3649

* Sunday, February 12, 7:00 p.m. (PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE)
Chamber Orchestra of the Springs
 (See below for concert description

 *Saturday, March 3, 7:30 p.m.
 Chamber Singers-University of S. Dakota
 “Make a Joyful Noise”

 #Sunday, March 4, 2:30 p.m.
 Chamber Orchestra of the Springs
 “Unanswered Questions”

 *Sunday, March 25, 3:00 p.m.
 Bach Celebration Concert

*Sunday, April 29, 3:00 p.m.
 Celebration Multi-Cultural Ensemble

 #Sunday, May 6, 2:30 p.m.
 Chamber Orchestra of the Springs
 “Voice of the Romantic”

 *Sunday, June 24, 3:00 p.m.
 Velvet Hills Chorus

CONCERT DESCRIPTIONS:
February 12, 7:00 p.m.

On Sunday, February 12 at 7:00 p.m. (which is a departure from the usual concert time of 3:00 p.m.), First Christian Church at Cascade & Platte is presenting chamber music played by members of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs and friends. The program will include works by Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Fauré, Beethoven, Dvorak, Madeleine Dring and others, played by small ensembles of woodwinds, strings and piano. A free will offering will be taken.

Featured selections will include Notturno by Franz Schubert for violin, cello and piano; Trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano by Madeleine Dring; Tarantella for flute, clarinet and piano by Camille Saint-Saëns; movements from: Gabriel Fauré’s Quartet No. 1 for violin, viola, cello and piano; Sonata No. 3 for cello and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven; and the
American Quartet for string quartet by Antonín Dvořák.

 March 3, 7:30 p.m.

 On Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m., First Christian Church at Cascade & Platte is presenting the Chamber Singers from the University of South Dakota, directed by David Holdhusen. The program, “Make a Joyful Noise,” will showcase new choral music as well as standards of the classical repertoire, including settings of spirituals and folksongs from around the world. A free will offering for the choir will be taken.

 Works to be performed span a historical spectrum, from the early music of Josquin’s Ave Maria to Mendelssohn’s Heilig of the Romantic period to more contemporary works like William Albright’s Chichester Mass. Also featured are spirituals and cultural music from around the world, including a Hebrew folksong and selections from India, Russia and Africa. The idea behind the program is that regardless of language, country, race or religion, people are very much the same. They have the same feelings and emotions, experience similar events, and celebrate through song. It is music that ties us together; it really is the universal language.

 The Chamber Singers, the premiere vocal ensemble at the University of South Dakota, features 32 graduate and undergraduate students selected through audition. They have performed for state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators national Conference and have appeared on the public radio program “Going Beyond Words.” In 2011, the ensemble was selected as one of five finalists for the American prize in Choral Performance (College and University Division). www.usd.edu/cfa/music/ensembles.cfm.

 March 25, 3:00 p.m.

 On Sunday, March 25 at 3:00 p.m., First Christian Church at Cascade & Platte is presenting their annual Bach Celebration Concert. The program will feature concertos for: oboe d’amore; harpsichord and two flutes; and two harpsichords; a cantata for solo soprano and trumpet; as well as solo works for organ and cello and chorales for audience singing. A free will offering will be taken.

 Works to be performed are the Concerto in F for Harpsichord and Two Flutes BWV 1057; Concerto for Oboe d’Amore BWV 1055 R; Concerto for Two Harpsichords BWV 1060; Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, cantata for soprano, strings and trumpet BWV 51; an organ work; an unaccompanied cello work; and chorales for audience singing, including Sheep May Safely Graze.

 Performers are string players from the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, members of the American Guild of Organists on harpsichord or organ, and wind players from the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs.

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The Concordia Choir from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., will present a concert in Colorado Springs, Colo., at 4:00 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, at Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 601 N. Tejon St. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students. Tickets are available online at www.ConcordiaTickets.com or by calling (800) 838-3006. The concert is sponsored by friends of Concordia.

The concert is part of the choir’s 2012 tour which includes performances in Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Flagstaff, Sun City, Tucson and Paradise Valley, Ariz.; Solana Beach, Palm Desert, Thousand Oaks, San Luis Obispo, Fresno and San Francisco, Calif.; and Stillwater, St. Cloud, Arden Hills and Moorhead, Minn.

World-renowned composer and conductor Dr. René Clausen conducts the 72-voice a cappella choir and is the artistic director of the Emmy® winning Concordia Christmas Concerts seen by audiences of 18,000 people each year and televised nationally through PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). Clausen has written more than 100 commissioned compositions for ensembles across the world including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 national tragedy, he conducted his composition “MEMORIAL” in Lincoln Center, New York City – a piece originally commissioned by the American Choral Director’s Association.

This year The Concordia Choir released a recording with the GRAMMY Award-winning King’s Singers and has performed on multiple occasions with Garrison Keillor. The national tour program ranges from J.S. Bach to Morten Lauridsen and includes spirituals and hymns, a cappella and accompanied works sung in six different languages and an evocative set titled “A Night in Venice” in which the choir performs a number of Romantic Era selections in full costume with staging.

Touring nationally and internationally since 1920, the choir has performed in nearly every major hall in the United States and continues to affirm its reputation as one of the nation’s finest a cappella choirs. Paul J. Christiansen, son of F. Melius Christiansen, conducted the choir for 49 years and brought it to national and international prominence.

Concordia College is a four-year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offering more than 60 majors, including 18 honors majors and 12 preprofessional programs.

 FOR MORE INFORMATION:

 GORDON MOE, manager, The Concordia Choir  (218) 299-4886/moe@cord.edu

 AMY KELLY, Media Relations director  (218) 299-3642