Published Monday, October 9th, 2023
The concert will feature performances by the Wayne State Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, Lyrica, and Fortis. It is free and open to the public.
Music’s capacity to ease burdens, comfort the soul, and lift magical moments inspire Wayne State College’s An Evening of Choirs concert at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 23. The concert, free and open to the public, will be in Ley Theatre, located on the second floor of the Brandenburg Building.
The concert will also be livestreamed. To view the livestream, go to www.wsc.edu/watch-live. The program will be accessible by selecting the event from the Music Events list at www.wsc.edu/music.
Dr. Matthew Armstrong, associate professor and director of choral activities at Wayne State, will conduct the concert, with Shelly Armstrong, staff accompanist, serving as collaborative pianist. The concert, aptly titled “The Gift to Sing,” features performances by the Wayne State Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, Lyrica, and Fortis.
The concert theme is grounded in two feature songs, “I Am Glad,” composed by Daniel Schreiner and “The Gift to Sing,” composed by Reginal Wright. “I Am Glad,” with lyrics from “Rhapsody” by William Stanley Braithwaite, extols “I am glad for my heart whose gates apart are the entrance-place of wonders.” Braithwaite was an African American writer, poet, publisher, and NAACP award winner for literary achievement.
“The Gift to Sing” is from a poem of the same name by African American poet and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson. Text describes how song helps to find joy and sunlight amid sadness and darkness: “But, oh, I have a magic way to turn the gloom to cheerful day — I softly sing.”
For more information, contact Wayne State’s Department of Music at 402-375-7359.