On Sunday, April 3, the Troy University Concert Chorale will perform their spring concert “A Serenade to Music”.  This free concert will begin at 3 p.m. at Bush Memorial Baptist Church (George Wallace Drive, Troy) and the public is invited to attend.

The Concert Chorale is Troy’s auditioned 37-voice choir and their performance will feature some special guest artists, student soloists and guest conductors. Delyana Lazarova, Anna Lee (violin), Dawn Heese (viola) and Katerina Juraskova (cello) will accompany Beethoven’s Elegy (Elegischer Gesang) and Thompson’s The Road Not Taken. Dr. Mark Walker, Troy’s Director of Bands, will guest conduct the Thompson work and Dr. James Seay, Conductor of the Montgomery Chorale and Music Director at Montgomery’s First United Methodist Church, will guest conduct a piece by Ralph Vaughan Williams titled Rest.

Dr. Juraskova and Dr. Hui-ting Yang (piano) will lend their talents to the unique and beautiful A Serenade to Music, also written by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The full choir and 12 student soloists perform this brief masterwork, based on text from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

Continuing with musical settings of Shakespearean text, the choir will perform a delightful work by George Shearing.  Known primarily for his jazz piano expertise, Shearing also wrote some whimsical and entertaining choral works.  Songs and Sonnets is a small choral gem that combines the whimsy of Renaissance madrigals and the contemporary jazz harmonies.  The work features text taken from a Shakespearean sonnet, The Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, and Two Gentlemen of Verona and features Jonathan Steinman (piano) and Chris Boone (bass) as instrumental accompanists.

Dr. Diane Orlofsky, conductor of the Concert Chorale, said she hopes that everyone will take advantage of this varied and delightful choral program. “According to Orlofsky, the students have enjoyed learning these pieces and are excited to share them with friends, family and the larger community.  Please join the Concert Chorale and guest artists on April 3rd at 3 p.m., Bush Memorial Baptist Church,” she said.  Admission is free.