NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

10/23/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-The Northwestern Chamber Choir will present a concert Monday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Director of Choral Activities Dr. Burt Allen is the conductor. Admission is free and open to the public.

The program will include "Coronation Anthem No. 3" by George F. Handel with accompaniment by Michael Rorex on organ, "Four Motets" by Maurice Durufle' and "Neue Liebslieder, Op. 65" by Johannes Brahms with Rorex and Christine Burczyk Allen accompanying on piano.

Also on the program is: "O Magnum Mysterium" by Cesar Alejandro Carillo, "Feller from Fortune" by Harry Sommers, Leo Nestor's "O My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose with Dr. Dennette Derby McDermott accompanying on flute and "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" arranged by Moses Hogan.

"The work by Handel was one of four done for the coronation of King George II," said Dr. Burt Allen. "In it you can see Handel's early style which became famous when he composed 'Messiah.' It also shows the baroque practice of concerto grosso, in which there are two opposing forces. In this case, it will be the contrast of a large and small choir."

One of the four motets by Durufle', "Tantum Ergo," is widely used in the Catholic Church.

"Durufle' was a composer at the beginning of the 20th century whose style had a lot to do with chants," said Allen. "He used chants to create a choral style that reflects the characteristics of chants in which rhythm were free. They are very lyrical and each have a different story."

According to Allen, "Neue Liebslieder" is a series of love songs and all but the last one are waltzes.

"They deal with despair, passion, flirtation and anger ­ all of the emotions associated with love and being in love," he said.

The Chamber Choir, founded in 1987 by Dr. Burt Allen, is a highly auditioned choral ensemble which specializes in music suitable for performance by smaller choral ensembles. Membership is made up of students at Northwestern, many of whom are music or music education majors, but several have majors in other fields including business, social work, social sciences and theatre.

The Chamber Choir has established an outstanding reputation for choral performance in the gulf coast region. They have performed at Carnegie Hall and at the Orpheum Theatre in New Orleans along with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra on at composer Robert Kapilow's"'03: This New, Immense, Unbounded World." The Chamber Choir has also been invited to sing for numerous professional conferences sponsored by the Louisiana Music Educators and the Louisiana Choral Directors Association.

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