Area community members and Hope College choirs will perform together during a concert on Saturday, April 15, at 3 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts that will culminate a day-long choral festival and include a specially commissioned world premiere.
The public is invited to the concert. Admission is free.
The choral festival that is preceding the concert is being hosted by the Hope College Chapel Choir, SPERA and College Chorus. The festival will bring together 200 community members across multiple generations to form the Festival Chorus. Participants will include members from the Holland Chorale, Evergreen Chorale and Lakeshore Community Chorus, and students from local high schools including Holland Public and Fennville Public.
The Festival Chorus will gather in the morning on Saturday, April 15, to rehearse the selected repertoire, which includes “O Love,” by Elaine Hagenberg as well as the world premiere of “The Road Not Taken,” by Z. Randall Stroope. Stroope, who is a world-renowned composer and conductor, will be present for the festival. “The Road Not Taken” was recently commissioned by Dr. and Mrs. Charles Walvoord in appreciation of heroic M.D.s and to honor the memory of their daughter, Kristi.
The concert program will open with a presentation of “Requiem, Op 9,” composed by Maurice Duruflé, performed by the Hope College Chapel Choir, SPERA and College Chorus. This piece, written for chorus, organ and cello, will feature organist Jackson Merrill playing the Concert Hall’s Casavant organ. At the conclusion of the Requiem, all 200 members of the Festival Chorus will gather on stage to perform the Festival Chorus pieces.
Hope College is grateful for the support of the choral organizations and respective conductors of the ensembles coming together, as well as the support of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Walvoord and Dr. Z. Randall Stroope in helping to bring together the community for the festival.
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.