UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's Oriana Singers will present their annual fall campus concert at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5, in the Worship Hall of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. The ensemble's repertoire includes music from the Renaissance and Romantic periods, as well as compositions by American composers Randall Thompson and Gwyneth Walker. In addition to Oriana Singers, a small chamber ensemble, Discantus, will also perform.
Oriana Singers is conducted by faculty member Jayne Glocke. The conductor of Discantus is Willa Taylor Undergraduate Choral Intern Sarah Horner. Collaborative pianist for both choirs is Svetlana Rodionova.
General admission tickets are $4.99, student tickets are $2. No advance ticket purchase is available. Ticket sales begin 45 minutes prior to the concert in the lobby. Cash only.This concert is available on livestream at the Penn State School of Music.
Program
From "Songs for Women’s Voices" — Gwyneth Walker (with soloists Maeve Berry, Katie Nixon, Carla Santarelli, and Marissa Works)
— I Will Be Earth
— The Name Is Changeless
— Love is a Rain of Diamonds
Hodie Apparuit — Orlando di Lasso
Laudi Alla Vergine Maria (from "Quattro Pezzi Sacri") - Giuseppe Verdi
From "Four Sacred Songs for the Night" — Houston Bright
— Evensong (Vespers)
— Dawn (Matins)
The Snow — Edward Elgar
Song and Fairy’s Chorus (from "A Midsummer Night’s Dream") - Felix Mendelssohn (with soloists Katie Nixon-Titania, Maeve Berry, Miranda Waldman, Marissa Works, and Dana Hiyajneh)
Choose Something Like a Star (from "Frostiana") — Randall Thompson
Villemann og Magnhild - Middelalderballade, arranged by Linn Andrea Fuglseth (with Gage Kroljic, drum)
Conducted by Jayne Glocke, Oriana Singers is a treble choir composed of 60 women representing a wide variety of majors at University Park. Repertoire includes music written for treble voices from the 16th to the 21st century: madrigals, motets, part-songs, folk songs, musical theatre and music by female composers. The choir has performed by audition at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. Since 2005, Oriana Singers has performed major choral works including "Symphony No.2 in C Minor" (“Resurrection”) by Gustav Mahler, "Ein deutsches Requiem" by Johannes Brahms, "Symphony No. 9 in D Minor" ("Choral") by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Verdi "Requiem" and the Poulenc "Gloria." They have also appeared in Penn State Opera Theatre's opera gala performances and the production of "Hansel and Gretel." In addition to its two campus concerts per year, the choir also regularly appears on the School of Music's annual Mosaic concert. Enrollment is by audition with the conductor.
Discantus, a female chamber choir of eight to 14 voices, is composed of members of the Oriana Singers. The repertoire includes Renaissance madrigals arranged for treble voices as well as folk songs, spirituals and popular songs. Enrollment is by audition with the conductor and current membership.