Putting the usual rivalry aside, the Women’s Choirs of Northwestern and Dordt College will present a concert with the NW Chamber Orchestra. The ensembles will perform in Christ Chapel on Friday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m.
“I always like to involve the greater Siouxland community in a concert when possible,” said Linell Gray Moss, director of NW’s Women’s Choir. “Pam DeHaan, the Dordt Women’s Choir director, and I have worked together over the years, so I knew it would be a pleasure to collaborate, and I’m so glad she said yes!”
The two choirs will present three sections of music, and the Chamber Orchestra, directed by Jungho Kim, will perform “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber and “Divertimento in F Major, K.138” by Mozart.
“We will be together for the first time next week, after Easter,” Moss said.
The first choral section celebrates Christ’s resurrection with music sung in Dutch and Latin. The second section presents texts about spring from the Song of Solomon in the Hebrew Bible and two pieces in recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 11. Dordt’s Janelle Bolkema will be featured as a violinist, along with piano accompanist Laurel Slice. NW sophomore Melissa Marsh will be featured as flute soloist, with sophomore Sarah Bartz as piano accompanist.
Bartz has choreographed a dance for “Birdsong,” a choral piece based on a poem written by a child in a World War II concentration camp. Dancers will include Bartz and NW’s Hannah Barker, Jessica Kleveland and Alyson Wesselink.
The choirs’ final set of music celebrates music from around the world sung in Japanese, Spanish and English. The program also includes a new composition, “Wings of Grace,” by NW junior Monica Klarenbeek. The choirs will conclude the concert with an African-American spiritual entitled “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel.”
