The seats of Van Meter Hall were filled on Sunday with WKU students, faculty and Bowling Green community members to celebrate the music department’s choir concert, “Grow in Peace.”
Audience members enjoyed an afternoon of performances by the WKU Treble Chorus, University Singers and Chorale. They were joined by the Southern Kentucky Choral Society and student acapella ensembles The TrebleMakers and Redshirts.
The Southern Kentucky Choral Society is an organization based in Bowling Green that includes university students as well as members from the surrounding communities who gather to perform. Hondorp also serves as the Artistic Director of the organization. Its website defines it as “a partnership of campus and community dedicated to the choral art.”
The performance opened with numbers by the Southern Kentucky Choral Society conducted by Director of Choral Activities Paul Hondorp.
The ensemble began with “Alma Dei Creatoris,” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The piece included solos by WKU junior Keelin Murrell, freshman Reese Thompson and freshman Noah Chudgar. The song also featured accompaniment by violists Melissa Bull and Julianna Waller, cellist Sarah Berry and harpsichordist C. Kenneth Stein.
The group followed with an acapella piece, “The Word Was God,” by Rosephanye Powell. Hondorp highlighted the piece’s powerful crescendo, a moment the audience was receptive to.
“That one was so cool,” said freshman special education major attendee Betsy England, “They were so crisp.”
The final piece by this ensemble was “If Music Be the Food of Love,” by David Dickau, accompanied by C. Kenneth Stein. Hondorp described this piece as “a gorgeous setting of a great poem.”
Hondorp encouraged audience members who had an interest in choral performance to consider joining the group through the auditions portion of their website.
The next group to perform was the WKU Treble Choir with the pieces “I Will Be a Child of Peace,” by Elaine Hagenberg and “Kyrie,” by Greg Gilpin with accompaniment by Bowen Yi. The first song was conducted by Associate Director of Choral Activities Lauren Whitham. The second piece was conducted by senior music education major Tess Raney.
“She’s going to be a fabulous future music educator,” Whitham said, “She has taught our ensemble from start to finish, all on her own.”
WKU Chorale was the next ensemble to take the stage, led by Hondorp. Hondorp said that this group of students will be traveling to Spain over spring break to take part in collaborative concerts and learning experiences. The group will bring selections of American music and also learn pieces by Spanish composers.
They opened their section with “Domine Deus,” by David Caldarerra. Hondorp then introduced one piece the ensemble will be taking to Spain, “Earth Song,” by Frank Ticheli, which Hondorp described as, “an offering of peace.”
The next two numbers were performed without conduction and included choreography onto the stage deck. The first was “Love is Little (from Shaker Songs),” which was recovered and recorded from the South Union Shaker Village. This song featured a solo performance by sophomore marketing major Ethan Vickers. The singers then transitioned into “Unclouded Day,” by Reverend J.K. Alwood.
The audience then welcomed WKU’s two acapella groups, the WKU Redshirts and WKU TrebleMakers.
The Redshirts are known as “WKU’s premier men’s acapella vocal ensemble,” according to their social media pages. The group performed the well-known song from “Toy Story 2,” “When She Loved Me,” by Jim Kahlke.
The soprano-alto group TrebleMakers performed “Hide and Seek,” by Imogen Heap.
The next ensemble was the WKU University Singers, conducted by Whitham. The group performed three songs, one of which was accompanied by Stein and the other two by sophomore music education major and choir member Camden Clark.
The first piece performed was “I Dream a World,” by Andre J. Thomas, followed by “O Schöne Nacht,” by Johannes Brahms. The group closed its performance with “O! What a Beautiful City,” by Shawn Kirchner.
The University Singers were then joined by the Treble Chorus and Chorale to sing their finale, “Irish Blessing,” by James E. Moore as an ensemble.
Once the song ended, Van Meter erupted into a standing ovation, celebrating the performances.
“It was really beautiful,” said attendee Annie Pilbean, a freshman middle grades mathematics major.
There will be two more upcoming performances hosted by WKU Choirs. The WKU Choirs Spring Finale on April 26 at 4 p.m. and the Choral Masterworks Concert on May 1 at 7:30 p.m., both in Van Meter Hall.
