Cathedral to feature two groups of chamber singers

Friday, Feb. 20, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The Cathedral of the Madeleine will be the venue for the world premiere of Spells of Herick by Andrew Steffen, during the Feb. 23 concert featuring the Utah State University Chamber Singers and the USC Thornton Chamber Singers.

Spells of Herick is “a new work; it’s never been performed. It was actually the winner of a competition the ACDA’s (American Choral Directors Association) composer’s competition – and it won, so they asked us to perform it,” said Dr. Cory Evans, director of choral activities at Utah State University.

The ACDA’s national conference will be Feb. 25-28 in Salt Lake City; both chamber singers’ groups will be in town for that, and agreed to present the concert at the cathedral while here. The concert will be an opportunity for everyone to hear the music that the choral groups will be performing at the ACDA convention, which is closed to the public, Evans said.

In addition to Steffen’s piece, the USU Chamber singers will present Wayfaring Stranger, arranged by Michael Engelhardt; selections from A Celtic Mass by Michael McGlynn; Abschied Vom Walde by Felix Mendelssohn; and Veni Veni Bella by Katharine Blake, arranged by Cory Evans.

The USC Thornton Chamber Singers’ repertoire will be Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God by Richard Nance, The Heart’s Reflection by Daniel Elder, De circuitu aeterno by Petr Eben, Trois Chansons Bretonnes by Henk Badings, Alleluia by Jake Runestad and Ezekiel by Stacey Gibbs.

“The program is focused on different views on the heart, life and love, whether it be love of God, love of another person or love of nature. Most of the pieces fit along these veins,” said Antona Yost, a member of the Thornton group who is also a graduate of the Madeleine Choir School and West High School.

Yost said she is excited to return to sing at the Cathedral of the Madeleine because “it’s a beautiful space” that she wants to share with her college friends, while also performing for her friends and family in the Salt Lake area. 

For her, singing choral music is a way to praise God, bring joy to other people and “give them an experience of beauty that will bring them closer to God,” she said. 

Likewise, Ryan Tani is looking forward to returning to the Cathedral of the Madeleine; he too is a graduate of the choir school and West High School who now is at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. 

The concert will be a way to “share our music with others,” he said, adding that he had many formative experiences “making music in the Cathedral of the Madeleine.”

Both choral groups will perform selections spanning an array of styles.

“One of my aesthetics as a choral director is that an American choir should be able to do many different styles of music, so this concert will feature everything from the most ethereal beautiful music from the Celtic Mass – the Kyrie, the high harmonies that just soar; it will be so beautiful in the cathedral – up to the Wayfaring Stranger, which is more hard-hitting and angular, so it brings out the more virtuosic voices in the choir,” Evans said. “Then the Veni Bella features some of our singers as instrumentalists, so we’ll have percussion and mandolins and other things, so it just highlights the scope of the talent of these singers, both in their ability to sing and to play instruments.”

Evans appreciates the chance to perform in the Cathedral of the Madeleine, he said; “it’s like a little bit of Europe right here in Salt Lake.”

He also is looking forward to having as guests at the concert 75 choral directors from China, who will be visiting USU that day, he said. 

WHAT: Concert at Cathedral of the Madeleine

WHO: USC Thornton Chamber Singers and USU Chamber Singers

WHERE: Cathedral of the Madeleine, 309 E. South Temple, SLC

WHEN: Monday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m.

Free and open to the public