We hope you can join us. You are welcome to print this poster and put it up (click on it, it will open in a new page), we work on DIY advertising! Be a part of a long standing Clinton tradition….it just isn’t Christmas without the Messiah.
Rehearsal for the annual Clinton community performance of the Messiah will begin tonight, Nov. 3rd. Community singers of any age and ability are encouraged to join us, music will be available. Rehearsals will be on Monday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall of First Presbyterian Church, 400 Fifth Ave. South. This is the second year of the three year cycle, we will perform Part I, plus selections from Parts II and III, with piano.
We need an audience, also….so if it just isn’t Christmas without the Messiah, please plan to join us on Sunday, December 14, 2 pm at Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton, Iowa.
RiverChor will begin its 11th season of operations with its annual fall concert Sunday, November 2, at 2 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 439 Third Ave. South.
The concert is free and the public is cordially invited; free will offering plates will be provided.
The concert, entitles “Mozart and More”, will feature Mozart’s Mass Number 15 in C Major, K. 317, known as the “Coronation Mass”. First performed on Easter Sunday, 1779, the work got its nickname from the Austrian imperial court in early 19th-Century Vienna, when it was the preferred music that was performed for imperial coronations.
The concert will open with three sacred anthems, performed from the balcony: “Ubi Caritas” by Ola Gjeilo; “O Lord God” by Pavel Tschesnokov; and “The Lord is My Light” by Horatio Parker, performed with our guest organist, David Gaulrapp.
Following intermission, the choir will present a varied set of works on the subject of love: an arrangement of the Scottish folk song “Annie Laurie”; “The Pasture” (from Frostiana) by Randall Thompson, featuring the tenors and basses; “At Last”, featuring the sopranos and altos; and “A Summer Night, and You, and Paradise” by Benjamin Kornelis, with a text by popular radio personality Garrison Keillor.
The concert will conclude with three songs of faith: Larry L. Fleming’s arrangement of “Lord of the Dance”; “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, arranged by Peter Knight; ad the spiritual “King Jesus is A-Listenin'”, arranged by Ken Berg.
Following the concert, RiverChor will begin rehearsals for Clinton’s annual performance of Handel’s “Messiah”, which will be held Sunday, December 14, at Zion Lutheran. Any interested community singers are invited to join the choir at its regular rehearsals, held Monday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall of First Presbyterian Church, 400 Fifth Ave. South.
RiverChor is in rehearsals for their fall concert, which will be Sunday, November 2, 2014 at Zion Lutheran Church. The concert is free.
Repertoire will follow two basic themes, music for Kings, and music of love.
O Lord God …… Paul Tschesnokoff
Ubi Caritas …… Ola Gjeilo
The Lord is My Light …… Horatio W. Parker
Coronation Mass in C …….. W. A. Mozart
Annie Laurie ……….. arr. Arthur Johnstone
The Pasture ……… Frost/Thompson, featuring our Men
At Last ……. Gordon/Warren, featuring our Women
A Summer Night, and You, and Paradise ……. Keillor/Kornelis
Lord of the Dance ……. Carter/Fleming
Swing Low Sweet Chariot ….. arr. Peter Knight
King Jesus is a-Listnin’ ….. arr. Ken Berg
Please mark your calendar for November 2, we enjoy singing for you!
Have you been interested in joining RiverChor? Here’s your chance! We’re holding open auditions on Sunday, September 7th, between the hours of 1-3pm in the sanctuary of Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton, Iowa.
Auditions take about 10 minutes, and you do not need to prepare anything.
Rehearsals will begin Monday, September 8th. Our regular concerts will be November 2nd and April 19th.
RiverChor has been entertaining the Gateway Area for ten years! Join us at 2 pm on Sunday, April 27, 2014 for a celebratory concert at Zion Lutheran Church. The concert will feature many pieces from the very first concert the choir performed, plus a few favorites from the years.
Program:
Come, ye that love the Lord ….arr. Alice Parker
Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee …. Johannes Brahms
Hallelujah ………. Ludwig von Beethoven
Locus Iste ….. Anton Bruckner
Beati quorum via …. Charles Villars Stanford
Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One …. Heaely Willan
Ubi Caritas …… Maurice Durufle
The Last Words of David ….Randall Thompson
Sanctus …. Craig Courtney
Aftonen ……. Hugo Alfven
Danny Boy …… Joseph Flummerfelt
Soon-ah Will Be Done …… William Dawson
Abide with Me …… arr. Moses Hogan
The Awakening …. Joseph M. Martin
Down by the Riverside …. arr. John Rutter
The Earth Adorned …. Waldemar Ahlen
Mark your calendars now, spring and April are right around the corner (we hope!), and we invite you to enjoy our concert on the 27th.
RiverChor will be participating in two upcoming performances. The first will be our annual appearance with the Clinton Symphony Orchestra. We will be performing the first set of the Alfred Burt Carols. “These delightful carols are the result of a tradition begun by the Reverend Bates G. Burt, his composer son, Alfred, and friend-of-the-family Wihla Hutson; for many years these three collaborated on the creation of original carols, which were then sent to friends as Christmas cards.” (via Shawnee Press)
Additionally, the choir will be performing with the symphony on “A Christmas Festival” by Leroy Anderson; “Jesus bleibet meine Fruede” (Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring) by J.S. Bach; and concluding with choruses from Handel’s “Messiah”. This performance will be at Clinton High School’s Vernon Cook Theater at 7:30 pm on December 14. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for students, children through the 8th grade are free. Further details of the concert are available on the Clinton Symphony’s website: http://www.clintonsymphony.org/
The annual Clinton performance of Handel’s “Messiah” will take place on December 15th, at 3 pm at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 715 S. Third Street. This is year one of the cycle, which is the Sing-a-long. All are welcome to sing, or to listen. Participants are welcome to bring their own score, however there will be scores available. We hope you’ll join us for this tradition that began in 1931, and help ring in the season.
Press Release – From its beginning as a replacement concert on Zion Lutheran Church’s concert series in April 2004, RiverChor has enjoyed ten years of quality music making in the Clinton area.
That tradition continues when the choir presents its fall concert Sunday, November 10 at 2 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church. The concert is free and the public is cordially invited; donation plate will be available for contributions.
“Our 10th season will be, in part, one of reflection and retrospection,” Rob Engelson, RiverChor conductor, said. “We’ve performed a lot of music since our first appearance on April 25, 2004, and we’re going to bring some of it back on this year’s concert.”
One of the works on Sunday’s concert will be Gabriel Faure’s “Requiem”, which the choir performed on its November 2004 concert. In his setting of liturgical texts from the Catholic Mass for the Dead, Faure writes music of a contemplative, consoling nature that is meant to comfort those who mourn the dead. The work is scored for chorus, soprano and baritone soloists, and organ, which will be played by Chris Holmer, accompanist for the choir.
The second half of the concert will feature an interesting variety of works including “Domine, Ad Adjuvandum Me Festina” by Martini, Gustav Holst’s “Short Festival Te Deum”, and folk songs and spirituals from the United States, Canada, and Nigeria. One of the spiritual, Paul Eddington Wright’s arrangement of “My Lord, What a Morning,” is another ‘retro’ work that was performed on the choir’s first two concerts back in 2004.
“For our spring concert,” Engelson said, “we plan to recreate a good portion of that April 2004 program. Hopefully, after ten years, we’ll be able to bring a fresh perspective to those important pieces in our history.”
Members of RiverChor include high school students to retirees and come from several communities in Iowa and Illinois. The choir performs regularly with the Clinton Symphony Orchestra, and it will again be featured on the orchestra’s holiday concert on December 14th.
We invite you to join us for our fall concert, which will be Sunday, November 10, at 2pm in Zion Lutheran Church. The concert is free.
Repertoire will be:
Requiem ……… Gabriel Faure
Domine, Ad Adjuvandum Me Festina …….. Il Padre G. B. Martini
Short Festival Te Deum ……….. Gustav Holst
Feller From Fortune ………. arr. Harry Somers
My Lord, What a Morning ……… arr. Paul L. Wright
Keresimesi Qdun De O …….. arr. Wendell Whalum
Ezekiel Saw De Wheel …… arr. William Dawson
Have you been interested in joining RiverChor? Now is your chance!
Auditions will be held:
Sunday, September 8th , 2013
1-3 P.M.
Zion Lutheran Church, Clinton, Iowa
It is not necessary to prepare anything, and the audition will last 10-15 minutes. Rehearsals will start Monday, September 9th.
The 2013-2014 season will mark RiverChor’s tenth season of music in the Gateway area. The fall concert features Faure’s Requiem, last performed in Clinton on our first fall concert in 2004.
The choir will take part in the Clinton Symphony Holiday Pops concert, and look forward to their 10th Anniversary celebration concert in the spring of 2014.
We hope you will join us this season, whether in the choir or in the audience!
