Winter Choral Concert at AU taking place Sunday, Feb. 25

ASHLAND, Ohio – Ashland University’s annual Winter Choral Concert, featuring the AU Chamber Singers, the Ashland Area Chorus and the AU Choir, will take place Sunday, Feb. 25, at 4 p.m. The concert, free and open to the public, will be held at Jack and Deb Miller Chapel.

Rowland Blackley, director of choral activities and professor of music at AU, will conduct all three groups. Susan Gregg will serve as the accompanist pianist for all three ensembles.

The AU Chamber Singers, a select choir, will perform two sets by late 20th century American composers. Oscar Wilde texts are charmingly illuminated by Luigi Zaninelli’s wit and unerring sense of theater in “Wonderful Wilde,” while Morten Lauridsen translates Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s love for roses into rapturous music in “Les Chanson des Roses.”

The Ashland Area Chorus, a mix of students and community members, will perform two movements from the “Requiem,” an eclectic composition written in 1985 by British composer John Rutter. It will be a preview of sorts, as the entire “Requiem,” consisting of seven movements, is scheduled for the Spring Choral Concert on April 28.

The AU Choir, comprised of students selected via audition and representing numerous academic majors, will close the program with a set of songs expressing hope, joy and thanks. Among the selections will be Susan LaBarr’s “I Should Be Glad;” “Amor de mi Alma (You are the Love of My Soul),” a 16th century Spanish love poem with music by Z. Randall Stroope; “I Dream a World,” which combines music by Dave Brubeck with Langston Hughes’ poetry; Gwyneth Walker’s “I Thank You God” with text by American poet E.E. Cummings; and two arrangements by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw, the well-known hymn “Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal” and the fun-filled “Vive L’Amour.”

Ashland University is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.