PSU Choirs Present

PSU Choirs Present "A Joyful Noise: Psalms, Songs, and Blues"

Emily Holleran

For The Clock

ejholleran@plymouth.edu

PSU Choir preps for the holiday show

COURTESY PHOTO/ JOHN ROBERTS

On Sunday Dec. 6, the sounds of Plymouth State University Chorale and the Manchester Choral Society will echo from within the Hanaway Theatre.

The choirs join in collaboration for this year’s annual holiday concert, "A Joyful Noise: Psalms, Songs, and Blues", to create a sound that warms hearts and lifts spirits.

The concert is directed by Dr. Daniel Perkins, Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Plymouth State University, and Music Director of Manchester Choral Society.

“We will sing Leonard Bernstein's iconic anthem of peace, ‘Chichester Psalms,’ said Perkins. “Sung in Hebrew, the work is accompanied by trumpets, trombones, strings, two harps, timpani, and five percussionists.”

“Parts of the music come from ideas Bernstein originally intended for ‘West Side Story’ but never used,” he said.

They will also perform the world premier of  “Psalms, Songs, and Blues”, which Joshua Fishbein composed as part of a dissertation on Bernstein's composition. It uses the same instrumentation as “Chichester Psalms”. PSU alum Travis Palmer will sing the cantor.

Fishbein is from Baltimore, and will attend the week of rehearsals prior to the performance to assist in the final touches.

“The most difficult aspect of this concert is the music itself,” said Tristan Mayes, who as been a member of University Chorale for three years. “I'm not going to lie, I've had my fair share of difficulty with this music. The chords and notes that we sing in ‘Psalms, Songs, and Blues’ are so unique. It was hard for me to rap my head around it.”

University Chorale is a non-auditioned group that rehearses three days a week. Manchester Choral Society is a 70 member auditioned community choir.

Select performances will include the Second Generation Manchester Choral Society, which is an auditioned youth choir conducted by PSU alum Krystal Morin, and the Nashua High School South Concert Choir, conducted by alum Adam Boroskas.

"A Joyful Noise: Psalms, Songs, and Blues” will be performed Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at Nashua High School South, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at Brookside Congregational Church in Manchester, and Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. in the Hannway Theatre in PSU’s Silver Center for the Arts.