The Marshall University Chamber Choir will join the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus in celebrating Leonard Bernstein’s centenary and Walt Whitman’s bicentenary anniversaries in two upcoming performances.
The choral groups will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 513 10th Street, Huntington. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.
They will perform again at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at Christ Church United Methodist, 1221 Quarrier Street, Charleston. For this performance, tickets are available for $15 from the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra office or at the door.
Conducted by David Castleberry, director of choral activities at Marshall, singers will perform the music of Leonard Bernstein and music featuring the poetry of Walt Whitman, including Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms,” Norman Dello Joio’s “A Jubilant Song,” Jeffrey Van’s “A Procession Winding Around Me” and Dan Forrest’s Three Nocturnes.
“It’s difficult to think of a figure in American music more important than Leonard Bernstein, whose influence as a conductor, composer, arts advocate and educator, are still felt today,” Castleberry said. “Similarly, it is impossible to think of another poet whose writing has writing has been set to music more frequently or effectively than Walt Whitman. The opportunity to feature these two giants in the same program is exciting for the choir and audiences.”
The events are sponsored by the School of Music in the College of Arts and Media.