The Troy University Concert Chorale will present its fall concert, “Song of Devotion” at Bush Memorial Baptist Church at 3 p.m. Sunday. The concert is free and open to the public.

Dr. Diane Orlofsky, conductor of the Concert Chorale, said the 45-voice auditioned mixed choir will perform a variety of sacred music centered around the themes of devotion, reflection, comfort and praise.

“We are very excited to have ‘Rhapsody,’ a 55-member choir from St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Jackson, Mississippi, join the Concert Chorale for three numbers,” Orlofsky said. “The conductor of ‘Rhapsody’ is Troy native and Troy University alumnus Scott Sexton.”

In addition to his duties at St. Andrew’s, Sexton is on the conducting staff of The Mississippi Girlchoir and the founding director of Mississippi Harmony, a community choir.

St. Andrew’s is the number one private school in Mississippi and ranked 18^th in the nation. The school has an outstanding arts program.

“The Troy University Concert Chorale is looking forward to performing with ‘Rhapsody’ and to hearing the choir perform its own selections,” Orlofsky said.

One of the selections the St. Andrew’s choir will perform is titled, “ Wana Baraka,” which Sexton said means “have blessed.”

“St. Andrew’s has a partner school in Ghana, West Africa and ‘Wana Baraka’ is one of the praise songs we like to sing,” he said. “We recently did a small concert in Ghana, about eight students. Every other summer, we take a group from St. Andrew’s to Ghana. Each trip is a rich learning experience.”

“Rhapsody” is an auditioned choir of 11^th and 12^th grade students and they are a pleasure to direct, Sexton said. “We are looking forward to performing with the Troy University Concert Chorale. It is an honor for our choir and our school.”

“Rhapsody” will perform for students at Troy Elementary School on Monday before retuning to Jackson.

Sunday’s Concert Chorale will also feature Dr. Michael Huff, associate professor of music at Troy University.

Huff will be the featured trumpet soloist for Halsey Steven’s ‘Magnificat,’ a powerful setting of the Biblical text that expresses the Virgin Mary’s response to the angel’s proclamation.

“This piece departs from the typical response we have come to stereotypically expect from musical settings of this text,” Orlofsky said. “This composition, with its purposeful dissonances, complex rhythmic structure and interplay between piano, trumpet and voice, seems to cast the Virgin’s response with a certain strength of resolve and depth of understanding of the enormity of the task ahead.”

Daniel Elder’s lush setting of “Ave Maria” and Jane Marshall’s popular anthem, “My Eternal King” will round out the program, Orlofsky said.
The Troy Music Study Club will be recognized and honored as a “Chorale Community Champion” for its faithful support of the concert chorale and choral music in general.

“I urge folks to get to Bush Memorial early and get a good seat,” Orlofsky said. “I am excited about the variety of the program, the chance to welcome a talented young choir and a gifted trumpet soloist to our stage and to be given another opportunity to celebrate the vibrancy and power of sacred choral music.”