The department held it’s Spring Choral Concert this Thursday, April 16 at First Baptist Church. The concert featured three of Union’s choirs; Cantilena, men’s choir, and University Singers.
Chris Mathews, associate professor and department chair, said the concerts are meant to be both educational for students as well as entertaining for audiences.
“I tell our choirs that any choral concert will always be more for us because we’ve spent the time together,” Mathews said. “So it’s almost like we are getting together for another meal and we’ve just invited guests to come along.”
Cantilena, a women’s choir directed by David Dennis, professor of music, began the night with a variety of pieces. One of the songs they performed was an arrangement of “Come, Thou Fount” arranged by Daniel Musselman, assistant professor of music.
Each choir performed at least one foreign language piece throughout the night. Cantilena presented “Cantante Domine” by Ken Berg as their final song of the night.
Men’s choir took the stage next, directed by Chris Mathews.
They began with a strong performance of “Hosanna” by Reginal Wright, accompanied by pianist Kennith Freeman. Another stand-out piece was “Shut de Do” by Randy Stonehill.
There was an interlude performed by guest bluegrass band Stone County Connection. Following the interlude, the band accompanied the men’s choir in “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” by Keith Christopher.
After a short intermission, University Singers, also directed by Mathews, began the second half of the concert with “Chariots”, a piece by Peter Louis van Dijk.
Autumn Hitt, senior philosophy major, and Ben Baytes, junior music major, switched to the piano to accompany Singers in an arrangement of “Praise to the Lord” by Joel Raney.
“It’s a nice break to catch my breath,” Baytes said. “It is really fun to be under Dr. Mathews and being able to tap into his knowledge about how to accompany people like Singers.”
Singers also performed a song by Musselmen titled “Salmo 100” with solos by Cedric Townsend, senior music performance major, and Deanna Cook, sophomore music education major.
“I hear thy voice is definitely my favorite because it’s so emotional and everybody in the choir was emotional,” said Adrienne Wagster, senior music major. “It’s one of those songs that just brought us together from the beginning.”
Coming off of their Spring break tour in Oklahoma, the group has created a deep connection and they truly enjoy performing together.
“I don’t think that I could have asked for better classmates,” Baytes said. “We have bonded so well. There’s a comradery that singing brings, so it’s just a nice way to end the semester to do it with people that I like.”
The night was a bitter-sweet one for seniors.
“That was the last time that I’m going to be singing with that choir except for on graduation day,” Wagster said after the concert. “This is the last time I’m wearing this red dress ever. This is it.”
The concert ended with an encore and Mathews was well pleased with his choir.
“They’re always good, but, man, they’re on tonight!” Mathews said.
