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Cal Poly Cantabile ACDA Send-Off Concert
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Friday, March 1, 2024
7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo
Cal Poly’s Cantabile will present a send-off concert which will include works by Hildegard von Bingen, Caroline Shaw and new works by David N. Childs and Cal Poly music Professor Meredith Brammeier.
The concert will be a preview of Cantabile’s performance at the ACDA Western Region Conference titled “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in Pasadena, California, on March 8. The conference represents choral directors, singers and composers from seven states, and is one of the largest choral conferences in the U.S.
“An invitation to perform on an ACDA regional conference is highly competitive and sought after and one of the greatest honors a college choir can receive,” said Scott Glysson, Cal Poly’s director of choral activities and vocal studies.
Cantabile has commissioned two pieces that will be performed at both concerts: “She Weeps” by celebrated choral composer Childs of Dallas, and “Charity Begins Today” by Brammeier. “She Weeps” addresses the crisis of climate change and sustainability. It is scored for viola, percussion, piano and choir and was crafted in conjunction with 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s “Its Motion Keeps,” which reflects on the concept of the steady march of time. “Charity Begins Today” is a setting of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, the patron saint of World Youth Day and the Missionaries of Charity who is better known as Mother Teresa, and addresses the subject of caring for the poor.
The concert will also include a modern setting by Michael Engelhardt’s arrangement of Hildegard von Bingen’s “O Antiqui Sancti.” Von Bingen (also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine), lived in 11th century-Germany, and was one of the world’s first “named” composers. This arrangement is pulled from a portion of her famous morality play, “Ordo Virtutum.” Engelhardt is a singer, songwriter, composer, vocal coach, producer, and director, whose work has been featured on ABC, NBC, PBS and NPR broadcasts.
Music major Jayden Perez, viola, a senior from Visalia, California; and Cal Poly faculty member John Astaire, percussion; will accompany the choirs for the Childs, Shaw and von Bingen works.
The concert will also feature a portion dedicated to imaginations. The set will include a wonderful setting of “Pure Imagination” from the soundtrack of the 1971 musical fantasy “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” as well as the impressionistic composer Lily Boulanger’s setting of “Les Sirens.”
Glysson will conduct the concert, and Paul Woodring accompanies the choirs.
Tickets ($20 general, $10 students)
Cal Poly Choirs' Winter Concert: 'Traditions'
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Sunday, March 17, 2024
3 p.m., Performing Arts Center
The Cal Poly Choirs’ “Traditions” Concert will feature 100 alumni of Cal Poly’s choral program.
Cal Poly graduates from the last 40 years will form the alumni chorus. The group will be co-directed for several choral gems by Cal Poly Professor Emeritus Thomas Davies, and Director of Choral Activities and Vocal Studies Scott Glysson.
“The Cal Poly choral program was my home away from home while I was a music major,” said Danna Damandan (Music, ’23). “I am so thankful for the way it influenced my life, and am very excited to return to the choir room in the Davidson Music Center and Performing Arts Center to make music with amazing friends, and meet different generations of phenomenal choir alumni!”
Chuck Hill (Social Sciences, ’93) added: “I can’t wait for this concert! It’s going to be so great to see and sing with all of my Cal Poly Choir friends. I just hope I can still carry a tune.”
Mark Fugate (Business Administration, ’85, MBA, ’99), was so impacted by his experience in the choral program that he and his wife, Stephanie, generously established the Thomas H. and Susan A. Davies Choir Endowment last year in honor of Davies and his wife, Susan, who accompanied the choirs. The fund supports the student choir experience, including travel, recruitment, professional student development and other enhancements to students’ choral experience.
University Singers will open the concert with traditional favorites including “How Lovely Are the Messengers” by Felix Mendelssohn, as well as modern selections like Byron J. Smith’s gospel work “Make a Way.” John Knutson, Cuesta College’s director of choral and vocal jazz program, is guest conductor of the group this quarter.
The Chamber Choir will present a preview of its “Sacred Sounds” concert in Mission San Luis Obispo on May 25, which will include the mass setting “Missa O quam gloriosum” by Spanish Renaissance Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), and contemporary works by Stephen Paulus, an American Grammy Award winner who died in 2014, and Zanaida Robles, an award-winning Black American female composer, vocalist and teacher.
PolyPhonics will perform works from its upcoming tour of the San Francisco Bay Area: Alberto Ginastera’s riveting “The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet” from 1946, Pawel Lukaszewski’s beautiful setting of “Crucem tuam adoramus,” “Breaking Dawn,” a modern work by Scottish composer Cecilia McDowall, and “Yon Monn Nuovo,” a vibrant and exciting work in Haitian Creole by Sydney Guillaume.
Glysson will conduct the Chamber Choir and PolyPhonics. Paul Woodring will accompany the choirs on piano.
Tickets ($15 and $20 general, $10 students)
Cal Poly Chamber Choir and Cantabile: Sacred Sounds
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Saturday, May 25, 2024
7:30 p.m., Mission San Luis Obispo
Cal Poly's Chamber Choir and Cantabile will present a concert of sacred a cappella music. Selections will range from Renaissance classics to the modern day.
Tickets ($20 general, $10 students)
Cal Poly Choirs and Symphony: France Tour Preview Concert
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Saturday, June 8, 2024
7:30p.m., Performing Arts Center
Details are on the symphony page