The University of Georgia’s flagship choral ensemble, the Hodgson Singers, will present a concert reflecting on life’s “seasons and sentiments” in “The Passing of the Year.”
The performance will take place in Hodgson Hall Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. during UGA’s seventh annual Spotlight on the Arts festival, which is presented by the UGA Arts Council and features dozens of events and exhibitions in the visual, literary and performing arts.
“I am delighted that our university has begun this initiative to bring greater awareness of our ongoing artistic pursuits to the greater university and Athens communities. The singers and I are glad to be contributing this special concert to the festival,” said Daniel Bara, the John D. Boyd UGA Foundation Professor of Choral Music and the director of choral activities.
Joining Bara and the Hodgson Singers will be doctoral piano student Tsai-Wei Li.
“ ‘The Passing of the Year’ requires a professional caliber pianist,” said Bara. “We are so delighted that Tsai-Wei has taken on this challenging and rewarding piece with us.”
The evening’s program reflects on the seasons of life as expressed in the writings of poets and thinkers, including Wordsworth, Dickinson, Blake, Tennyson, Whitman, Rabindranath Tagore and Rumi. The centerpieces of the program are works that have become important contributions to the choral repertory in recent years: Jonathan Dove’s “The Passing of the Year” and Christopher Theofanidis’ “Messages to Myself.”
The second part of the program will explore the human experience through the lens of folk songs from the U.S., England, Ireland and South Africa. It closes with a “bedtime” story and lullaby, followed by a rousing African American spiritual.
“The diversity of styles will certainly be appreciated by all who come,” said Bara.
The intellectual gravity of the texts paired with the virtuosity of the writing make this program one of significance, according to Bara.
“In these times of heightened political rhetoric and apparent divisiveness, I hope that this program—one that intentionally explores the folk music of other cultures and writings of non-Western philosophers and poets—helps to remind all of us that we are more similar than different, and that we are stronger and better when we seek to see ourselves in others,” he said.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for students and children and can be purchased online at pac.uga.edu or by calling the Performing Arts Center box office at 706-542-4400. All proceeds go directly to supporting student scholarships. For those unable to attend the concert, live streaming will be available online at music.uga.edu/live-streaming.
For more information on the Spotlight on the Arts festival, which continues through Nov. 11, visit arts.uga.edu.