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.