Vocal Rhapsody
The Chamber Choir and Vocal Rhapsody Ensemble of Cleveland State Community College will present a concert celebrating the end of the fall semester, Cleveland State’s 50th Anniversary and the holiday season on Thursday, at 7 p.m. in the George R. Johnson Cultural Heritage Center.
The celebration with begin with Vocal Rhapsody sharing The National Anthem and the Cleveland State Alma Mater. Music Department alumni will then join the choirs on stage to sing “March of the Kings,” “Carol of the Bells” and “The Lord is My Shepherd.” The Chamber Choir will then perform a set of songs including a joyful madrigal and a Latin song of praise, and sophomore, Nacor Lantigua, will direct that ensemble in singing “Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God.”
Vocal Rhapsody will sing three a cappella works including Bach’s Chorale, “Break Forth, O Beauteous, Heav’nly Light,” a jazz arrangement of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and the calypso style “Shut de do.”
Business and Biology Professors, Amy Fowler and Penni Jo Wilson, who sing with Vocal Rhapsody, will then sing the duet, “Christmas is a Feeling” accompanied by Lantigua with Karen Dale on flute. The chamber choir will return with a lively version of the traditional spiritual, “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel,” followed by “The Phantom of the Opera Medley.” Choir members traveled to Nashville to see the live production of Phantom last spring, so this “holdover” from the schools Octoberfest is particularly meaningful to them.
The concert will return to the Christmas Season with a “Christmas Pop Sing-a-Long,” inviting the audience to sing along on “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town,” “Silver Bells,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
Moving on into the season of winter, the combined choirs will sing a playful rendition of “Winter Wonderland,” followed by two Pentatonix Christmas arrangements by Vocal Rhapsody, “White Winter Hymnal” and “Mary Did You Know.”
Honors Students, Brianna Riley and Alexis Bramlett will sing the duet “Sisters” from Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, and other soloists during the concert will include Jerry Stewart’s “How Can I Keep From Singing,” and Megan Kalb’s “Once Upon a December.”
The Halloween theme will return, mixed with Christmas, as the Chamber Choir performs a medley from “Nightmare Before Christmas” with a bit of help from characters from that movie. The men of the choirs will sing Roger Emmerson’s lively, “The Christ Child is Born,” followed by Vocal Rhapsody’s whimsical version of “Various Themes on Fa-La-La.” The concert will conclude with “Christmas Finale” – Traditional carols (“Joy to the World,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” and “O Come All Ye Faithful,” as a sing-a-long with both choirs and instrumental students.
Both choirs are under the direction of Karen Dale, Associate Professor of Music. According to Dale, “The students are excited about sharing their music with family, friends and the community. The concert is free, and we hope that everyone will come and help us celebrate the conclusion of a successful semester of study.
The choirs will also perform with The Greater Cleveland Concert Band on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. in the same auditorium on the Cleveland State Campus.
Cleveland State Chamber Choir