Campus News

Hodgson Singers feature baroque, bluegrass music

The UGA Hodgson Singers’ fall concert will employ a variety of styles to showcase the abilities of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s premier choral ensemble in Hodgson Concert Hall Nov. 11 at 8 p.m.

“I’m really excited about the concert,” said Dan Bara, director of the Hodgson Singers. “The choir is sounding excellent this year.”

The program will open with a set of four Latin motets on Nativity and Holy Week themes from the baroque and 21st centuries.

“These works were written by composers from the U.S., Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Germany and feature an interesting diversity of styles and textures,” Bara said.

The second half of the program will celebrate American music and will feature a staple in the choral repertoire, Samuel Barber’s “Reincarnations,” a triptych set to the poetry of James Stephens, whose subjects come from Irish poetry and history.

“The Peace of Wild Things” for chorus and piano, a recent work by Jake Runestad, will follow before the program turns to a set of folk tunes, hymns, arrangements and even two pieces from Timothy Powell’s new bluegrass set, “Dear Appalachia,” that will feature the UGA Bluegrass Band.

The concert will close with “Soon I Will Be Done,” a new double choir spiritual arrangement by Stacey Gibbs that Bara describes as “virtuosic.”

Tickets to the concert are $12 each or $6 with a UGA student ID and can be purchased at pac.uga.edu or the PAC box office. Those unable to attend can watch the concert live on the Hodgson School’s website at music.uga.edu/streaming.

This concert is presented as part of the university’s 2016 Spotlight on the Arts festival.