Lindenwood University Choir Concert 4/25/2023

thank you good evening we have a few business items that I'd like to take care of before we get started on the concert please make sure all of your electronic devices are on silent or off we are recording this for our YouTube channel if you're not if you're not familiar with our YouTube channel go to lindawood university music program all of our concerts are posted there this should be posted there um probably by the end of May so that you can start looking for it there if you'd like to share this with friends and family tonight's in concert includes a special culminating activity for one of our students it is our custom at Lindenwood to give our music students an opportunity for that real experience real success I'm really proud of the fact that the music program does this very well we see evidence of this tonight in our conducting and also tonight with our practicum our production practicum students are the ones running sound and taking care of all logistics for us tonight our Advanced conducting students are allowed to rehearse in our ensembles for several weeks to prepare music from the beginning to the performance and then they take the pieces teaching all the pitches and The rhythms and the techniques and the Dynamics all while they're honing the skill of conducting trying to do all of that with their hands not their teaching um this semester Austin Sharif has worked on this project we'll enjoy the fruits of his labor tonight he will conduct the darkling thrush for voices only an afternoon on the hill with University chorus tonight and just a little bit about Austin I've known him since before he came to Lindenwood so it's been a great pleasure for me to watch him grow as a musician and as a human he really has enjoyed this work as a conductor and I know you'll enjoy his choir performances under his Direction he's completing his Bachelor of Arts in music degree and this is part of his culminating projects his final culminating project is his recital this Saturday at three o'clock um he's already accepted a full-time position at Darden Presbyterian Church that will start in June so as soon as he's gr he graduates he's got a full-time job doing music and worship and working with youth as a mentor there so we're really excited for him and now for the music tonight it's spring I know it doesn't always feel like it I went to Chicago last weekend and winter coats should have been worn but uh but it is spring all of the music you'll hear tonight will have some reference to the season birds flowers nature or other things associated with spring it is our hope that in spite of this crazy weather we have here in the Midwest you know what they say if you don't like the weather in the midwest just wait 20 minutes right um it's our hope that in spite of all of this tonight you can breathe the breath of spring growth renewal and Beauty to your world so I'd like to start this start us off with a poem it's spring hush can you hear it the rustling in the grass bringing you the welcome news that Winter's day has passed soft Can you feel it the warm caressing Breeze telling you the Sticky Buds are bursting on the trees look can you see them the Primrose in the lane now you must believe it spring is here again foreign [Applause] [Music] always [Music] ready [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] God cause [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Laughter] my dearest [Music] s [Music] studies [Music] [Applause] [Music] about us in my dreams [Music] my dreams no fear inside [Music] in nature in life [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] there is [Music] his will not sprouts foreign [Music] [Music] you are beautiful [Music] oh [Music] my rules are beautiful my room [Music] are strong [Music] [Applause] the song you just heard Truth by Andrea Ramsey addresses our relationship with nature but also addresses issues that women have and it's really important for us to give the message to Future Generations that our roots are strong and our roots are what hold us together when the world might attack us so we hope you really enjoyed that I hope that they will forever remember you are beautiful you are enough from this experience this semester our next piece is in French so I wanted to just in case you didn't read the translation before or can't see it in the program I wanted to tell you a little bit about this song uh basically the story of the song um the literal translation of the beginning is my husband is so handsome and so the story is that these women are like all at the community wash wash time they're all doing their laundry together and one of them says my husband is so handsome and another one says mine mine does the chores and he lets me be at leisure and another one says oh mine doesn't even beat me so it was written in the Renaissance so be aware but he does all of these things he feeds the chickens and then suddenly they're talking and over over talking themselves so much and starting to laugh that they sound like a bunch of chickens cackling and so you should hear chickens clucking in this as well so this is spring a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can really be [Music] [Music] [Music] come on [Music] together [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] everybody [Music] don't forget [Music] welcome back [Music] [Applause] [Music] let me run through the fields [Music] Horizon [Music] keep causing the window home [Music] [Applause] let me leave behold [Music] awake without wondering why finding myself come on [Music] [Music] I don't know but maybe I'm just saying [Music] my God [Music] midnight [Music] [Music] hold on still wanna grow on the side of a hill on a shift like a way [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you foreign [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the pope first describes the deaths of the world desolate the mistake of emptiness where a Thrust or bird burst something to see offering us some hope so much hope that the individual wonders if the bird knows something that the individual doesn't in a world of Darkness hopelessness and awareness I dream of the little Bird's ambition I've had seven reasons to not have aspirations Escape [Music] [Music] and winter strikes made us [Music] of broken Mars [Music] [Music] it's a cloudy canopy the wind is [Music] things [Applause] [Music] control [Music] s [Music] upon the growing this song [Music] was released [Music] the time I could think that trembled through his happy good night [Music] [Music] thank you always it's spring and everyone's in love and flowers pick themselves [Music] [Music] before [Music] she is [Music] [Music] she I know she wants to leave me [Music] to kiss [Music] tell me [Music] she is my thought of you [Music] my father [Music] she she [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] blue skies smiling at me foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] nothing but Blue Sky [Music] [Music] Bubba foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] ladies big bright blue skies [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign foreign [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] school I found this piece by Eric Whitacre now Eric Whitaker is a famous composer and he's very famous for the specific kind of music with Lush chords and and lots of acapella things and this is a little bit different it's called Little Birds and um it is in Spanish and so I want to just give you a little bit about what the words are here noon light unblinking time empty of minutes a bird stopped short in air later light flung down the pillars awake and without moving dance full sun the time is transparent ever if the bird is invisible let us see the color of his song Little Birds [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] Christmas song [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] come on [Music] [Applause] thank you afternoon on a hill a text by Edna St Vincent Malay arranged by Eric William Barnum is the celebration of the exquisitely beautiful natural world and the joy we experience immersing ourselves in it the text reads I will be the gladdest thing under the sun I will touch a Hundred Flowers and not pick one and reflecting on the meaning of this piece the reminder that we get to enjoy our home planet Earth is synonymous with the opportunity to conduct this piece we get to enjoy this beautiful planet Earth and don't have to I get to stand in front of this wonderful community choir and don't have to [Music] thank you foreign [Music] thank you [Music] destruction flowers [Music] just please [Music] [Music] [Music] fall down the grass I watch Ed us [Music] foreign [Music] God I will talk to me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Applause] bull behold my friends the spring has come the Earth has gladly received the Embraces of the Sun and we shall soon see the results of their love thank you [Music] so you can teach how to put them down [Music] [Music] another time [Music] [Music] Sonic is [Music] always [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] everybody I see [Applause] while we set for the last song if we could have trouble choir and voices only join us and you chorus take your new places I have some people to thank number one I'd like to thank Tim Shackleford and the student production crew that took care of all of our Logistics our sound and all of the things that made us sound wonderful tonight so thank you so much folks thank you they are supervised by my friend and colleague Professor Adam Donahue and I don't know what I would do without him talking me through things as we're planning these concerts I always want to do special stuff like instruments and soloists and he's one time he said a couple years ago why can't you just do a normal concert and I said well that's not how I roll so he now expects I'll say I have extra stuff and he's like I know so but it makes the concert so much more fun doesn't it so um I'd also like to thank Austin Van Winkle for doing all of our wonderful lights and changing colors for the moods of the songs I think it really adds to the aesthetic of the concert so thank you so much Austin we couldn't do this without the support of our technical theater faculty and staff also we would not be able to be as successful as a music program without the support of our department chair Emily Jones our assistant Dean Travis mcmackin and Shanika Harris and our Dean Dr Kathy vosovich so we really appreciate their leadership as well [Applause] I'm so grateful for students that are willing to take the time out of their crazy busy schedules to help us out on percussion instruments and any other instruments that we ask for so I'd like to just show let everyone thank Heather Hill Haley boss and Reagan griesel for their help with percussion tonight [Applause] [Music] thank you it's especially notable that Heather is here tonight because her senior recital is tomorrow night at 7 30 in the black box so if you want some more percussion you should go there um yes thank you um the last thing that I want to just tell you about is that we have way more concerts coming up so if you're in the mood for more music and Artistic Endeavors please check out the website so that you can find our concerts on Friday night that's percussion right Thursday Thursday is percussion Thursday night is percussion at 7 30 Friday night we have a 7 30 concert we have a recital a cello and Boyce at three o'clock Saturday afternoon we have another combo and contemporary music concert on Sunday night our Saturday night and then Sunday night voices only is doing their own concert all of these are in the black box and so if you want more singing come see us um at 7 30 on Sunday night there's a lot going on in our program and we'd love to share it with you so please join us as you can thank you thank you the spring wakes us it nurtures us it revitalizes us how often does your spring come if you're a prisoner of the calendar it comes but once a year but if you are creating authentic power it comes frequently very frequently I thought I was done speaking a word about this song the song all of us we we discovered this I discovered this for the first time out of the context of the major work it's from at the Missouri music educators Association conference in January and one of our a couple of our choir members that went to that said please please please can we sing this song on our concert I'm like I don't know I don't know there's a lot going on in this song and you'll see why I said I don't know in a few minutes um this song is the finale of a major work based on um the Matthew Shepard Story and Matthew Shepard is the college student who is the reason for the hate crimes law it is called the Matthew Shepard law his parents lobbied for that after his death in Laramie Wyoming so um what I love about that major work which is an hour and a half long is that it tells the story through music and it gets and I feel like music can dig into the emotions and express those so much better than even sometimes a player a movie or a documentary um what I love about this last piece is that it finishes that story with hope that if we work together if we come together all of us can make a difference [Music] thank you [Music] what could be the song [Applause] [Music] from the Shadows [Music] where could be the joy [Music] us [Music] thank you again [Music] me the Lord [Music] [Music] raise always [Music] creations [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] celebrities [Music] memories [Music] foreign [Music] possible [Music] [Music] [Music] oh yeah foreign [Music] thank you and good night