The McPherson College Choirs will present their home concert on Monday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Brown Auditorium on the McPherson College campus. After a five-day tour of Eastern Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, the choir will be joined by the Moundridge High School Choir at the concert.
Dr. Josh Norris, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities, said the choirs have been looking forward to their Midwest tour since the beginning of the academic year. Singing at high schools and churches in Warrensburg, Mo.; Stillwater, Okla.; and Norman, Okla., the choir will be presenting a concert entitled “Madness or Genius?” The musical selections are all pieces that to some in history might have been considered “mad” while others in their time and ours have considered them to be works of “genius.”
The home concert on April 25 will feature two works written in the 20th century by the composers Igor Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten. The choirs will be joined by the Moundridge High School Choir on the Britten work “Rejoice in the Lamb.” Featured alongside the guest choir from Moundridge will be guest organist, Dr. Melody Steed of Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan.
“I am so proud that the Moundridge High School Choir will be joining us on the Britten work,” Dr. Norris said. “I have spent the last few months rehearsing the high school choir a few days each week to get them ready for this collaboration. They have worked very hard to rise to the performance level that this music requires. I am honored that the Moundridge High School Choir director Kim Kellum has entrusted me to work with her students and we are so grateful to the Moundridge High faculty and parents who have supported these students as they have prepared for this evening. I know everyone will have an awesome experience.”
Norris also said he was excited that Dr. Kim Cash on McPherson College faculty and Dr. Melody Steed will collaborate on a work for choir and two pianos – Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms.”
“The Stravinsky has been some of the most difficult music that my college students have ever undertaken and we are so blessed to have two fine keyboard players in the area who will make the performance here in McPherson a truly outstanding success,” Norris said.
The McPherson College Choir’s Annual Pie and Coffee Social will follow the concert. All are invited and encouraged to attend this free event.