RiverChor Community Choir to perform spring concert April 28
Apr. 24—RiverChor Community Choir will perform its spring concert, "Alice's Restaurant," at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 28, at Zion Lutheran Church, 439 3rd Ave S in Clinton. Admission to the concert is free, offerings are welcome and appreciated.
The group, made up of approximately 40 singers from the Gateway Area, is under the direction of Karl Wolf, with Christine Holmer as accompanist.
The concert will present a buffet of choral music through the ages, with a special tribute to Alice Parker. While Parker is best known for her collaborative efforts with Robert Shaw in arranging folk songs, hymns and spirituals, she was also a brilliant composer, educator and clinician in her own right. The set will open with Parker/Shaw arrangements of the hymns "I Will Arise" and "Wondrous Love," and close with the last piece Alice Parker composed, "On the Common Ground," featuring soloist Kristen Jones.
Opening the concert is Viadana's setting of Psalm 33 in "Exultate Justi." A string quartet joins the choir in Martini's setting of Psalm 70, "Domine, Ad Adjuvandum Me Festina."Deanna Petersen, Beth Yaklich, Karil Carr, Donica Vanderohe, Noah Strausser, Justin Tegeler, and Jim Schnitzmeyer present the solo quartet portions of the piece.
"Die Nachtigall" by Mendelssohn will follow; a light melody about a nightingale and her spring song. Durufle's beloved setting of "Ubi Caritas" rounds out this portion of the concert.
The women will open the second half with "In the Valley" by Matt Podd, a joyful lilting take on the familiar Shaker tune "Simple Gifts."
The men will get your toes tapping with the Hatfield arrangement of "Heaven Somewhere."
"Song for the Mira" by MacGillivray will charm you with scenes of simpler times along the river, featuring soloists Connie Swanson-DeSpain, Brooke Logan, Jim Schnitzmeyer, and Shauna Tegeler.
"Ah, Holy Jesus" by Petrichn and Randall Thompson's setting of the Robert Frost poem "Choose Something Like a Star" inspire us to be introspective.
The concert will close with Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," a tribute to the friendships the choir has forged through 20 years of music together.
