Winter Choral Concert on Feb. 23 to feature AU Chamber Singers, AU Choir

ASHLAND, Ohio – Ashland University’s annual Winter Choral Concert is set to take place on Sunday, Feb. 23, and will include performances by the AU Chamber Singers, the AU Choir and a special feature. The concert, which is free and open to the public, begins at 4 p.m., at Jack and Deb Miller Chapel.

Rowland Blackley, director of choral activities and professor of music at AU, will conduct both groups. All music will be sung unaccompanied.

The AU Chamber Singers, a select choir, will perform three songs that may be familiar to most, consisting of “That Lonesome Road,” the James Taylor classic, arranged by Gary Rosen; “Penny Lane,” the Beatles hit arranged in a vocal jazz style by Bob Chilcott; and “Song and Music,” a lyrical setting of the Christina Rossetti poem, arranged by Stephen Chatman.

The AU Choir, comprised of students selected via audition and representing numerous academic majors, will also offer a three-song set, including the major piece “Schaffe in mir, Gott” by Johannes Brahms. It is an expressive, multi-movement motet based on Psalm 51. The choir will sing “Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt,” a Heinrich Schütz piece based on the popular Bible verse John 3:16, and Walter Pelz’s “Peace I Leave With You,” a gentle affirmation of God’s love, as well.

The concert will feature “Il Maestro e Lo Scolare (The Teacher and the Pupil)” by Joseph Haydn. This classic variation set, which is labeled as both musically interesting and somewhat theatrical, will be performed by Blackley and AU student Robert Mouledoux.