After an eight-day tour including Indiana, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., New Jersey and New York, the Hope College Chapel Choir will return to Holland for a home concert on Monday, March 24, at 8 p.m. at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The program will consist of an eclectic mix of pieces written between 1940 and the present. "Pange lingua," written in 1999 by Francesco Nunez, is a setting of a text by St. Thomas Aquinas. Elsewhere on the program, African American spirituals will be represented with works by William Dawson and Moses Hogan. Other composers with work featured will include Herbert Howells, Matthew Harris and Steven Sametz.
The Chapel Choir was organized in 1929 and began touring annually in 1953. The choir has made a European tour six times, most recently in May of 2001 to France and Italy. In the spring of 1989, the choir toured in the former Soviet Union.
The choir is featured annually in the Hope College Christmas Vespers program, which is heard on radio stations nationwide. The choir has appeared on the "Hour of Power" from the Crystal Cathedral in California, and has sung for the Easterdawn services at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
The 44-voice choir consists of student musicians representing many areas of the college, and performs sacred and secular choral music of the past five centuries. Students in the choir are selected by audition, and maintain a vigorous rehearsal schedule in preparation for their concert tour and other engagements throughout the year.
The choir is directed by Dr. Brad Richmond, director of choral activities and associate professor of music at Hope. Richmond is in his fifth year at the college, where he also teaches conducting and private voice. In addition to the Chapel Choir, he directs the College Chorus and the Collegium Musicum.
Prior to his appointment at Hope, he served as director of choirs at Southeastern Louisiana University. During summers from 1996 to 2001 he conducted the high school choral ensembles at Interlochen Arts Camp in Traverse City.
St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church is located at 13th Street and Maple Avenue.