Choirs present choral concert 'Reincarnation … Awakening'

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Three of Western Michigan University’s choral ensembles—University Chorale, Collegiate Singers and Cantus Femina—will perform "Reincarnation … Awakening" at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Doors open 25 minutes prior to the performance.

About the performance

Cantus Femina will sing compositions with messages from empowerment to enchantment. The group will begin its set with the opera buffa "Servants' Chorus" from the opera Don Pasquale and continue with dynamic pieces by Szymko, Moore and Girtain.

Collegiate Singers and University Chorale's offerings explore the idea of reincarnation through works that feature musical, textual, electronic and philosophical repurposing. Collegiate Singers will present works for women’s and men’s choruses in addition to the world premiere of "And As It’s Going," written by WMU alumnus Nathaniel Haering. This will be followed by a performance of Scot Hanna-Weir and Bruno Ruviaro's "Sympathy," written for choir, soprano solo, audience with cellphone electronics and mason jars.

University Chorale will perform the centerpiece of the concert, Samuel Barber's "Reincarnations," alongside a newer arrangement of the Latvian folksong, "Es gulu, gulu." The program will close with the final movement of Ted Hearne's "Privilege: We Cannot Leave," which recycles the text of the South African anti-apartheid song, "As' Kwaz' uKuhamba."

For more information about the concert, visit wmich.edu/music or call (269) 387-4667.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.