American college singers visit 'the land of song'

On their tour of six cities in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the
University of Washington Chamber Singers are presenting a concert
this week entitled "Everyone Sang: A Celebration of Recent American
Choral Music."

THE CONCERT is named after its opening piece, "Everyone Sang," by
composer laureate Dominick Argento. Highlights in the first half
of the program are Rene Clausen's "Magnificat" and Cindy McTee's
"Psalm 100," followed by songs of nature - Stephen Paulus'
"Evensong," Eric Whitacre's "Water Night," and William Hawley's "Io
son la Primavera (I am Spring)." The second half of the concert
features folksongs, jazz and spirituals arranged by today's leading
composers. Country Dances, a setting of "Turkey in the Straw" by Ward
Swingle, the beloved folksong "Shenandoah" by James Erb, the popular
jazz ballad "All the Things You Are" by Gene Puerling, and American
Black Spirituals arranged by Moses Hogan highlight this portion of
the program.

THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CHAMBER SINGERS, founded in the early
1930s, gained wide recognition through conductors Gerald Kechley,
Rodney Eichenberger, and Joan Conlon. The choir seeks out and
studies challenging works of all periods. The group consists of
graduate and advanced undergraduate music majors, vocal performance
majors, and music education majors. In the spring of 1998 the Chamber
Choir was featured as guest performers along with the Canadian Brass
at Musicfest Canada. In 1999, the choir explored the works of Nordic
and Baltic composers such as Abaris, Dambis, Grieg, Karlsons,
Rautavaara, Tormis and Wikander, and decided to travel to the Baltics
to encounter the "land of songs" firsthand. This week, the Chamber
Singers perform in Vilnius, Klaipeda, Liepaja, Riga, Tartu and
Tallinn.

THE DIRECTOR, Professor Geoffrey Paul Boers teaches choral literature
and choral techniques at the University of Washington. In addition to
his duties at the university he is presently director of music and
conductor of the Bellevue Chamber Chorus. In the spring of 2000 he
traveled to Carnegie Hall with the chorus to conduct Poulenc's
"Gloria" and in the summer of 2000 he will conduct members of the
chorus in a performance of Fanshawe's "African Sanctus" at the Sydney
Opera House. His recent conducting engagements have included honor
choirs in Montana, Idaho, Kansas, Edmonton, London, England, Bangkok,
Thailand, and the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts.

THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON'S BALTIC STUDIES PROGRAM was
established in 1994. The University of Washington is the only
University in North America to teach all three national languages of
the Baltic countries - Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian, along with
courses about the history and culture of the Baltic and Scandinavian
region. The Chamber Singers' Baltic tour in June 2000 aims to build
friendships with universities and choirs in the Baltics.

Contact Information: Guntis Smidchens
[email protected]