Children’s choir to present concerts this weekend

Item by Jim Bishop

It’s an invigorating breath – two, actually – of spring.

The Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir will present its 16th annual concerts 7 p.m. Saturday, Apr. 12 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Apr. 13, in Lehman Auditorium at Eastern Mennonite University.

The Preparatory Choir, with 37 children ages 8-11 directed by Joy Anderson, will present a traditional canon, “Let Us Sing Together”; “The Frog,” a children’s song; and a Russian folk song arrangement, “The Little Birch Tree,” accompanied by flute and balalaika.

The Treble Choir, SVCC’s intermediate group of 35 children ages 10-15 directed by guest conductor Janet Hostetter, will sing the lively “Shake the Papaya Down”; “The Lonely Ash Tree,” another Russian folk song, also accompanied by balalaika; and the spiritual, “Hand me Down my Silver Trumpet.”

The Preparatory and Treble Choirs will combine for Handel’s “Art Thou Troubled” and the popular Appalachian folk song, “Shady Grove.”

The Concert Choir, under Mrs. Hostetter’s direction, will present Vivaldi’s “Et Exultavit and Essurientes”; “Let Beauty Awake” by Ralph Vaughan Williams; “Ladybird,” a children’s folk song arrangement by Zoltán Kodály; a haunting setting of John McCrae’s “In Flander’s Fields” by Alexander Tilley; “Come and Sing,” an arrangement of an inspiring text about peace; the gospel song, “I’m Goin’ up a Yonder”; and the energetic “I Hear America Singing.”

The Treble and Concert Choirs will join together to sing “Al Shlosha,” a lyrical setting of a Hebrew text.

The three combined choirs will end the concert with Oscar Peterson’s “Hymn to Freedom” and an arrangement of the Angolan greeting song, “O Desayo.”

All seating is reserved. For tickets, call the EMU Box Office between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at 540-432-4582. Tickets are $12 adults, $10 students & seniors (65 and older), $7 children 12 and under; and special reserved section $15 each. Tickets are $2 more at the door.

Tickets may also be ordered online (except for the special reserved section) at www.emu.edu/boxoffice.

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