Get into the Rhythm
The Bainbridge Chorale presents “The Rhythms of Life” at 7:30 p.m. April 10 and 3 p.m. April 11 at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church, 11042 Sunrise Drive.
Tickets are $18 general admission, $15 seniors, $12 students teachers and military. Children under 13, free. For more information, call 780-2467, or e-mail info@bainbridgechorale.org.
For longtime Bainbridge Chorale member Stephanie Harris, singing enhances the rhythm of life.
“It’s good for the soul, the body, the mind. It brings us together as a community,” she said.
Led by conductor Mark Adrian, the 80-person chorale group will fill the Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church with a variety of rhythms, including waltzes by Johannes Brahms, Chopin, a contemporary Mass drawn from East African choral traditions, to contemporary late 20th century classical music.
The concert opens with the Liebeslieder Waltzes, a collection of 18 love songs by Brahms, with texts by Georg Daumer.
Following that is Chopin’s Seven Songs for Chorus, arranged by Bruce Trinkley. Born 200 years ago, Chopin wrote only 19 songs and no choral music.
In the second half of the concert, Brahms’ Op. 17 (1860) set of Songs for Women’s Chorus captures a romantic ethos, pairing French horn and harp.
The rhythms in Missa Kenya, written in 1995, are drawn from East African choral traditions.
“It is a work of great celebration colored with a bit of Catholic mysticism,” said composer Paul Basler.
Norman Lubol is one of America’s musical choral giants. He is best known as the founder and conductor of the Norman Lubol Choir, recognized worldwide as one of the leading choral groups of the 1950s-70s. The pieces featured in “The Rhythms of Life” were drawn from a larger collection entitled “Much Ado About Nothings: Paradoxical Pithy Paraphrases” for unaccompanied choir.
The concert ends with an amazing work by Georges Bizet. Bizet’s compositions include nine completed and surviving choral/orchestral works. Of the existing works, two have entered the performing repertory – Valse avec choeur and Te Deum.
