UTSA Concert Choir to perform at cathedral

(Oct. 6, 2004)--The UTSA Concert Choir conducted by John Silantien will perform at the historic San Fernando Cathedral in downtown San Antonio at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 17. The concert is free and open to the public.

The program, "Cantate Domino, I'm Gonna Sing, O Lord," will feature religious-themed music by composers from a range of historical periods including Schutz, Mendelssohn and Billings, contrasted with gospel music by Robert Hunter.

Compositions on the cusp of musical periods are the second focus of the program, featuring music by Beethoven, whose work straddles the Classical and Romantic periods. The performance continues with folk songs of Bartok and chansons of Ravel lie on the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries. Closing the concert is Murray Schafer's "Gamelan," a piece for unaccompanied choir that mixes elements of Balinese and Western music with voices imitating the sounds of percussion instruments.

The concert will conclude with Al Jarreau's arrangement of the Dave Brubeck standard, "Blue Rondo a la Turk," which lies somewhere between classical music and jazz. A program centerpiece is Hubert Bird's recent piece, "Now From the World the Light of God Is Gone," a haunting work for solo clarinet, piano and chorus written in memory of the victims and heroes of the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001.

For more information, contact Cindy Solis, Department of Music events manager, at 210-458-5685.