DATE
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
GORDON MOE, manager, The Concordia Choir
(218) 299-4886 /
AMY KELLY, Media Relations director
(218) 299-3642
Composer Of Grammy Winning Choral CD
To Conduct His Choir In Moorhead
The recording “Life and Breath: Choral Works by René Clausen” received the GRAMMY for Best Choral Performance recently. The Concordia Choir will perform in Moorhead, Minn, at 4:00 p.m., Sunday, March 11, 2018 at Memorial Auditorium on Concordia College campus.
The concert, part of the choir’s 15-day, 2018 tour of the Southcentral U.S., includes performances in Des Moines, Iowa; Topeka and Wichita, Kan.; Ft. Smith, Ark.; Shreveport, La.; Houston, Austin, Corpus Christie, and Temple, Texas; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Lincoln, Neb.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Grand Forks, N.D.; Maple Grove and Moorhead, Minn.
Clausen, a world-renowned composer and conductor conducts the 72-voice a cappella choir and is the artistic director of the Emmy® winning Concordia Christmas Concerts seen by audiences of 18,000 each year and televised nationally through PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). Clausen has written more than 120 commissioned compositions for ensembles across the world including the St. Olaf Choir and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 national tragedy he conducted his composition “MEMORIAL” in Lincoln Center, New York City – a piece originally commissioned by the American Choral Director’s Association.
A performance and recording session with the Grammy Award-winning King’s Singers and performances in most of America’s great concert halls highlight the choir’s world-class quality.
Conductor Rene Clausen, celebrating his 32nd year at Concordia, has programmed a varied set including a section titled, ‘Out of Darkness Let Light Shine,' which includes works by Joshua Clausen, Eriks Esenvalds, and John Rutter. Other composers include Josef Rheinberger, Steven Sametz, Leonard Bernstein, J.S. Bach and René Clausen. The final set includes a number of hymns, folk songs and spirituals.
Touring nationally and internationally since 1918, the choir has performed in nearly every major hall in the United States and continues to affirm its reputation as one of the nation’s finest a cappella choirs. Paul J. Christiansen, son of F. Melius Christiansen was the conductor of The Concordia Choir for 49 years.
Concordia College is a four-year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offering more than 60 majors, including 18 honors majors and 12 pre-professional programs.
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Editor’s note: Download photos at TheConcordiaChoir.org