ECLECTIC: Selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas (Vocabulary.com)
Eclectic could well describe the Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale's spring concert LOVE IS IN THE AIR. Let's just take a look at some of the wide-ranging musical selections you'll hear at this concert:
The Cloths of Heaven—the Chorale's 2016 commission by composer René Clausen. This beautiful composition for choir and piano features Romantic harmonies, with a sweeping piano accompaniment, and sets the text of W.B. Yeats. You can view the Chorale singing this piece in its debut performance.
Love Is Here to Stay—this Gershwin classic is given life by arranger Mark Hayes. You may know this song from the 1938 film The Goldwyn Follies.
Yesterday—the classic from John Lennon and Paul McCartney, arranged for a capella choir by Bob Chilcott.
Rainy Days and Mondays—directly from the Carpenters to you . . . by way of the arrangement of the late Steve Zegree.
And then, to that eclectic mix of titles, add this: an intentional juxtaposition of two eras in one piece of music! Jazz pianist George Shearing has set the Shakespeare text Live with Me and Be My Love in a wonderful jazz setting for choir, piano, and string bass.
So . . . safe to say that you're almost guaranteed to find something that will catch your fancy!
In addition to our regular accompanist Mac Willaert, the Chorale will be joined by three talented instrumentalists who will bring their expertise to bear in this concert. Jeff Padgett and Marissa Webb will join on oboe and flute in the hauntingly beautiful Song to the Moon by Z. Randall Stroope. And throughout the concert, Hannah Novak plays string bass on some of those jazz pieces.
The Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale presents LOVE IS IN THE AIR twice—Friday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 12 at 3:00 p.m. Both concerts are at College Church in Wheaton. That weekend happens to be Mother's Day weekend. Why not make one of these concerts a gift for that special person?
The entire Chorale joins me in hoping that we'll see you there!
Greg Wheatley
Music Director, Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale