FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CONTACT: Stacy P. Sherman

Marketing Specialist

Ph: (262) 472-5705

Email:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/young.aud
Twitter: www.twitter.com/youngauditorium

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/young-auditorium

Website: www.uww.edu/youngauditorium

Date: April 7, 2015

Wisconsin Chamber Choir Concert Set to Be a Tour de Force of Sound

WHITEWATER – The Wisconsin Chamber Choir (WCC), UW-Whitewater Chamber Singers and Sinfonia Sacra (professional orchestra) are uniting for a “tour de force” of sound, bringing a new moving and uplifting concert to Young Auditorium in Whitewater on Sunday, April 19th at 3:00 p.m. The musicians will perform three works: Brahms Requiem, Giles Swayne’s Our Orphan Souls, and Christian Ellenwood’s Prairie Spring. Tickets for this concert are as low as $15.50.

The WCC is based in Madison, Wis. It has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios, a cappella masterworks, and world premieres. The WCC has performed at Wisconsin Choral Directors Association conventions and on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Sunday Afternoon: Live at the Elvehjem radio broadcasts.

Active in commissioning and performing new works by living composers, the WCC has presented world-premieres by Stephen Chatman, Daron Hagen, Howard Helvey, Judith Shatin, Giles Swayne, and Ethan Amir Zaheri. The choir was founded in 1998 by Gary McKercher.

The WCC has maintained a biennial tradition of presenting cantatas and oratorios with full orchestra.

-more-

The players assembled for these performances, known collectively as Sinfonia Sacra, are members of the best regional orchestras, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Bach Musicians, and the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble. These established professional musicians, many with extensive training in historical performance practice, provide sensitive and powerful readings of choral masterworks, whether on modern instruments or sometimes period instruments. Visit www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org to learn more.

Dr. Robert Gehrenbeck is Director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, where he conducts the UW-Whitewater Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, and opera and musical theatre productions. Since 2008, he has served as Artistic Director of the WCC, leading that ensemble in critically-acclaimed performances of choral-orchestral masterworks as well as innovative programs featuring familiar and rarely heard a cappella works. As a singer, Gehrenbeck has appeared with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, Boston’s Cantata Singers, New York State Baroque, and the Bloomington Early Music Festival.

The UW–Whitewater Chamber Singers have performed at state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and on regional and international tours. The singers tour annually in the upper Midwest and beyond, including a tour of Germany and the Czech Republic in 2010.

About the program

Requiem - Johannes Brahms began Ein Deutsches Requiem in 1857, after the death of his close friend, Robert Schumann. In this major work for chorus, orchestra, and soloists, Brahms provides consolation for those who grieve for their loved ones. Selig sind, die da Leid tragen (“Blessed are they that mourn”) opens the seven movement work, comforting those left behind to grieve their loss. The final movement, Selig sind die Toten (“Blessed are the dead”) presents the final resolution of finding rest from life's labors in death. Flavored with lilting Brahms melodies, sweet harmonies, and splendid orchestration, this is music at its very best, and is sure to touch music lovers on all levels.

Our Orphan Souls - English composer, Giles Swayne (b. 1946), began composing at age 10. He won a scholarship in composition at the Royal Academy of Music and continued studies with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire. He now lives in London and teaches composition at Cambridge University, and is Composer-in-residence at Clare College, Cambridge. Dr. Gehrenbeck broached the

-more-

topic of a commissioned work and Mr. Swayne selected the text of Hermann Melville from Moby Dick and has set it for choir, baritone soloist, harp, alto sax, double bass and percussion. The baritone solo will be sung by Gregory Berg, Carthage College. Mr. Swayne will attend the concert.

Prairie Spring - Composed by Dr. Christian Ellenwood of the UW-Whitewater faculty, Ellenwood describes his work: "My composition, Prairie Spring, is a setting for choir and string orchestra of a poem by the celebrated American author Willa Cather. Cather’s poem is also entitled Prairie Spring; it was inspired by the prairie landscape of Nebraska, where Cather spent her formative years. The poem serves as the prelude to her beautiful novel O Pioneers!...Cather’s poem describes eternal cycles of growth, toil, yearning, and regeneration—cycles and stories as infinite and eternal as the landscape, and perfectly joined with it.”

The Young Auditorium serves as a presenting organization for the performing arts and as an educational and cultural center enriching the lives of regional communities, offering a full season of world-class performing arts presentations. Tickets are available to reserve online and print at home (a small fee is applied for this service), or by contacting the Greenhill Center of the Arts Box Office on the UW-Whitewater campus (930 West Main Street in Whitewater) at (262) 472-2222. The Young Auditorium is adjacent to this building, and parking is always free at the venue. To learn more, visit www.uww.edu/YoungAuditorium or follow at www.Facebook.com/Young.Aud.

###