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.