Arts and Entertainment

Oriana Singers to celebrate 20th anniversary at April 17 concert

Oriana Singers is a treble choir composed of 60 women representing a wide variety of majors at University Park.  Credit: Jana Bontrager / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's Oriana Singers will present its annual spring campus concert in celebration of its 20th anniversary at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 17, in Esber Recital Hall at University Park. The ensemble will perform music composed or arranged for women's voices, including works by American Norman Dello Joio and Hungarian György Orbán, as well as Spanish composers Tomás Luis de Victoria and Pablo Casals. Discantus, a chamber choir comprised of Oriana Singers members, will also perform. The choir is conducted by Grace Watson-Martin, Willa Taylor Undergraduate Choral Conducting Intern.

Oriana Singers is conducted by Jayne Glocke, assisted by choral conducting graduate student Melody Gifford. Lynn Drafall, founding conductor of Oriana Singers, appears as guest conductor.

Tickets are $4.99 for general admission and $2 for students. No advance ticket purchase is available. Tickets will go on sale 45 minutes prior to the concert in the lobby. The concert will be available via livestream video at the Penn State School of Music website.

Program

Oriana Singers

A Jubilant Song — Norman Dello Joio

Tenebrae factae sunt — Tomás Luis de Victoria

Je ne l'o se dire — Pierre Certon

Nigra Sum — Pablo Casals

Kyrie, Gloria (from Mass No. 6) — György Orbán

Weep No More — David Childs (conducted by Melody Gifford)

The Gift to be Simple — arranged by Bob Chilcott (conducted by Lynn Drafall)

Discantus

Cantate Domino — Giuseppe Pitoni

Nuit d'etoiles — Claude Debussy, arranged by Alan Raines

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."

The choir has 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.

Last Updated April 12, 2016