RiverChor

Reprinted from The Clinton Herald

RiverChor, Clinton’s Community Choir, will present its spring concert 2 p.m. Sunday (April 28) at Zion Lutheran Church, 439 Third Ave. South.

The concert, titled “Friends & Foster x 4″, will feature some of the area’s best instrumentalists accompanying the choir, as well as a set of songs by Stephen Foster, America’s foremost song composer of the 19th century.

“The Clinton area is blessed to have many talented musician”, Rob Engelson, RiverChor conductor, said, “and we like to feature as many of them as we can on our concerts.”

Guest musicians for the concert include violinist Kristen Jones, oboist Nicole Kotman, clarinetist Emily Bressler, and cellist Cyrus Kolah.

The set of Stephen Foster pieces includes some of his most familiar melodies, including “Beautiful Dreamer” and “My Old Kentucky Home”.

“We believe that Foster’s music is unjustly neglected,” Engelson said, “and we’re happy to be performing some beautiful arrangements of his songs.”

The concert will open with two songs of praise, Mozart’s “Regina Coeli” (Queen of Heaven) and F. Melius Christiansen’s powerful anthem, “Praise to the Lord”.  Closing the concert will be a medley from “Les Miserables”.

RiverChor was established in February 2004, and will be celebrating its 10th anniversary next spring.  The choir, which draws singers from communities in Iowa and Illinois, presents concerts every fall and spring, comprises the core group for Clinton’s annual Messiah performances, and has been featured on several concerts with the Clinton Symphony Orchestra; including its annual Holiday Concert each December.

The concert is free, and the public is cordially invited.

After a well deserved Holiday break, RiverChor is in rehearsal for their spring concert.  The date is Sunday, April 28; which is a change from the previously announced date.

The concert will be full of old friends, and few new favorites:

Regina Coeli, KV 276 ……… Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Praise to the Lord ……… arr. F. Melius Christiansen

In Remembrance ……….. Jeffery L. Ames

How Can I Keep from Singing ……… Taylor Davis

The Turtle Dove ………… arr. John Purifoy

Hirtenchor ……………… Franz Schubert

Beautiful Dreamer ………. Stephen Foster (arr. Parker & Shaw)

My Old Kentucky Home ……. Foster (arr. Moore)

Hard Times Come Again No More ……….. Foster (arr. Bellefeuille)

Nelly Bly ……………….. Foster (arr. Fissinger)

Medley from Les Miserables …… arr. Ed Lojeski

Saints Bound for Heaven ………. arr. Shaw, Parker

We hope you will mark your calendar for April 28th, and join us for a lovely afternoon of choral music!

RiverChor has two upcoming performances to ring in your holiday season.

Handel’s Messiah will be performed on Sunday, December 2, 3 p.m., at Zion Lutheran Church.  A long standing tradition in the Clinton area, community members and the Ashford University Choir will join RiverChor in presenting the majority of the work with orchestra.

Saturday, December 8, will bring the Holiday Pops concert with the Clinton Symphony Orchestra.  RiverChor will be performing Christmas Day by Gustav Holst, A Christmas Festival and Sleigh Ride by LeRoy Anderson, three choruses from Handel’s Messiah, and will be leading the audience in a carol sing-along.  The performance begins at 7:30 pm in Clinton High School’s Vernon Cook Theater.  You may click the Clinton Symphony link above for ticket information.

We hope you can join us for these events, and have a joyous Holiday!

We hope you will be able to join us this Sunday, October 27.  We will be performing in the sanctuary of Zion Lutheran Church of Clinton, at 2pm.

We will open the concert with John Rutter’s Requiem. We will be joined by several talented local instrumentalists, and take advantage of the organ in the church.

The second half of our concert will be RiverChor’s typical delightful mix of music from sublime to silly.  We’ll paint a sunset, go down to the river, tell the tale of a talking scarecrow, and take you to the wild west.

If you’d like to read more, the Clinton Herald printed a nice article in Wednesday’s paper.  It may be read here. Hope to see you there!

RiverChor will present a fall choir concert on Sunday, October 28 at 2pm in Zion Lutheran Church, Clinton, Iowa.  Musical selections are:

Song of Triumph; Dale Grotenhuis

Jam Sol Recedit (Now Sinks the Sun); Horatio W. Parker

Down to the River to Pray; Mack Wilberg

The Terrible Tale of Tom Gilligan; John Rutter

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d; Ethan McGrath, text: Walt Whitman

Old West Medley; arr.  Mark Hayes

Requiem; John Rutter

We will be joined on the Rutter Requiem by a small orchestra.  We hope you can join us for this beautiful concert.

You are cordially invited to participate in a tradition that has been ongoing  since 1931 in Clinton, Iowa – the annual performance of Handel’s “Messiah”.  This is year two of the cycle, which means we will perform all of the Christmas portion, plus selected other choruses.  Dr. Rob Engelson is the director, and Christine Holmer the pianist.

If you would like to sing, rehearsals start November 21, and are Monday evenings at 7pm (until about 7:45 or 8:00) in the choir room at Lyons Middle School.  You are welcome to bring your own score, or there will be copies to borrow.

Of course, no performance is complete without an audience!  Please put Sunday, December 18th, at 3:00pm in Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton on your calendar.  The concert is free.