Worship and music: Bridgewater College Oratorio Choir to perform Monday

Bridgewater College’s Oratorio Choir will perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “Five Mystical Songs” and Alex Berko’s “Sacred Place” on Monday, November 18, 2024.

The choir will perform at 7 p.m. in the concert hall of the Carter Center for Worship and Music on the College’s campus.

The Oratorio Choir, under the direction of assistant professor of music and director of choral music Dr. Ryan Keebaugh ’02, is a decades-old tradition at the College. Anchored by the College’s Concert Choir and Chorale and supplemented by BC faculty, staff, alumni and friends, the Oratorio Choir annually performs larger choral works and is often accompanied by a chamber orchestra.

The performance will begin with “Five Mystical Songs,” which premiered in 1911 and features five songs inspired by Anglican poet George Herbert’s 17th-century poems. Student soloists during the piece are Charlie Hale ’26, a music major from Grottoes, Grayson Preece ’25, an art major from Buchanan, Miles Rhoden ’27, a music major from Glen Allen and BC adjunct instructor of music Shannon Kiser. Parker Sale ’25, a music major from Henrico, will serve as student conductor.

Returning to Keebaugh’s direction, the choir will next perform “Sacred Place,” which follows the outline of a Jewish worship service. The six-movement piece premiered on March 31, 2023, at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas, and portrays the natural environment as sacred and an essential component of the human identity. Featured soloists will include Anna Monfort ’26, a music major from Gainesville and Abby Nester ’25, a music and professional writing double major from Woodbridge. “Five Mystical Songs” soloists Hale and Rhoden and student conductor Sale will also have solos in the piece.

The performance is free and open to the public.

Founded in 1880, Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college in the Central Shenandoah Valley. Bridgewater College is home to approximately 1,450 students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate majors and minors and four graduate programs housed within three distinct schools.