ARKADELPHIA, Ark.—Ouachita Baptist University’s Ouachita Singers will hold their semi-annual concert Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall on Ouachita’s campus.
The 46-voice choir is directed by Dr. Gary Gerber, associate professor of music and director of choral activities.
This fall’s repertoire consists of an eclectic mix of pieces. “We’re doing everything from Renaissance to modern to an energetic samba piece,” Gerber said. “The Singers will be singing in French, German, Latin and of course, English, depending on the piece.”
The concert begins with “Sing Unto God” by Paul Fetler, followed by “Ave Maria” by Tomas Victoria with a chant sung by Chris Straw, a senior musical theatre major from Little Rock.
Other highlights of the 15-song repertoire list include Felix Mendelssen’s “Psalm 43,” John Rutter’s “O Be Joyful in the Lord,” and Mark Hayes’ “Softly and Tenderly,” featuring soloist Jacob Watson, a junior musical theatre major from Wynne, Ark. The concert will conclude with Jon Washburn’s “A Cappella Overtures,” a “unique choice considering overtures are typically sung at the beginning of performances,” Gerber said.
“Tango to Evora,” arranged by Jon Washburn “should be pretty exciting,” Gerber said. “The choir has no text—the lyrics just consist of ‘dos’ and ‘das’ and ‘las.’ It’s a love story and as we sing, we’ll be acting out a storyline to that piece.”
Typically, the Singers choose pieces based on the chronology of composition, but this year they decided to go a different route.
“This year’s concert is going to be based on individual groupings of songs,” Gerber said. “We’ll have three or four different songs grouped together that deal with the same theme, such as the underlying love story in ‘Evora.’”
This year’s piano accompanist for Ouachita Singers is Carrie Brown, a senior piano performance major from Knoxville, Ark.
The concert is open to the public and admission is free. For more information, please contact Dr. Gary Gerber at gerberg@obu.edu or (870) 245-5128.
