The Hope College Chapel Choir and SPERA vocal ensemble will present a joint concert featuring a premiere and three-department collaboration on Saturday, March 11, at 5 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
SPERA will premiere “Scapulis Suis,” a motet composed by Dr. Ben Krause, assistant professor of music.
The portion of the concert featuring the Chapel Choir is a collaborative effort between faculty members of the departments of music, dance and English that seeks to communicate a story with the themes of love, perseverance and hope. Dr. Pablo Peschiera, associate professor of English, has written texts to weave together the musical selections, while Kara Brems, assistant professor of dance instruction, has added staging and movement for the Chapel Choir. The program will feature a wide variety of musical selections, including “For the Future” by Andrew Maxfield, set to a text by Wendell Berry; “O Schöne Nacht,” by Johannes Brahms from his Op. 92; an Argentinian love song titled “Te Quiero,” by Alberto Favero and arranged by Liliana Cangiano; the Baroque motet “Hear My Prayer,” by Henry Purcell; and the opening two movements from Maurice Durufle’s Requiem, Op. 9.
The March 11 concert is also the Home Concert of the Chapel Choir, scheduled in advance of the choir’s March 16–24 spring break domestic tour. The itinerary includes cities such as Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Colorado Springs and Chicago.
The Chapel Choir, founded in 1938, is an advanced ensemble that seeks to study advanced choral repertoire, and is open to all students by audition. SPERA is an ensemble for treble voice created in 2020, and is open to all soprano and alto students by audition.
Audience members who need assistance to enjoy any event at Hope fully are encouraged to contact the college’s Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616.395.7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Updates related to events are posted when available in the individual listings at hope.edu/calendar
The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets.