Department of Music

The University Singers will tour Europe in the spring of 2015.  Help sponsor a Singer for this extraordinary musical and cultural opportunity!

The University Singers and UVA Chamber Singers are proud to present their 2015 Spring Concert, “American Pioneers.” Exploring a generation of composers forging a distinctly American sound as they staked out new territory apart from European models, this exciting program includes composers Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Amy Beach, Randall Thompson, and Charles Ives. Featuring guest soloists Sarah Davis and Randall Ball, organist Jeremy Thompson, and led by U.Va. faculty conductor Michael Slon, the concert takes place Friday, March 27th at 8:00 pm in Old Cabell Hall.

Following their 2014 Fall Concert, which featured works the University Singers will be taking abroad on their 2015 International Tour, the Singers take the stage to present Ives’ challenging and moving Psalm 90 with organ, Dello Joio’s “Jubilant Song,” and Bernstein’s early work “Hashkiveinu,” in addition to other works. The Chamber Singers will also appear, performing Copland’s expansive In the Beginning, depicting the creation of the world with musical language familiar from his evocations of the open prairie and rolling hills of the American heartland. The program also includes several favorite American folksongs.

The University Singers is the premier mixed-voice chorus at UVa, and recently has sung for the Les Misérables creators Alain Boublil and Michel Schönberg, as well as giving acclaimed performances of Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem in Charlottesville. Founded in 1957, the group performs a cappella and accompanied choral literature ranging from chant to major choral-orchestral works, and the works of contemporary composers. Recent repertoire has also included Bach's Mass in B minor, the Bernstein Chichester Psalms, and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, as well as shorter pieces by Britten, Pierce, Lauridsen, and Whitacre. Recent trips have taken the group to Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, and the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. Later this season, they join with the Charlottesville Symphony and Oratorio Society of Virginia for performances of Beethoven’s Ninth.

Founded in 2005, the UVa Chamber Singers is a select ensemble drawn from the University Singers, and performs a wide variety of music for chamber choir ranging from early music to contemporary compositions. Recent performances have included Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia, Vivaldi’s Magnificat, Whitacre’s Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine, Allegri’s Miserere, and standards by Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and George Gershwin. The ensemble has in recent years participated in a workshop with Peter Phillips, director of the world famous Tallis Scholars; collaborated with Three Notch’d Road, Charlottesville’s professional Baroque ensemble; and performed for Philip Glass during his 2014 U.Va. Arts Board residency.

Active as a conductor of choral, orchestral, and operatic repertoire, Michael Slon is currently Conductor of the University Singers, Chamber Singers, and a professor on the music faculty at the University of Virginia, where he also guest conducts the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia. He also serves as Music Director of the Oratorio Society of Virginia.

Tickets for the concerts are $15 general/$5 students (UVa students may reserve a free ticket in advance), and are available at the UVa Arts Box Office in the Culbreth building, online at http://tickets.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu or by calling (434) 924-3376. Tickets will also be available at the door.

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic Lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda.  Parking is available in at the Central Grounds Parking Garage, or in the lots off University Avenue at the University Corner.  Handicapped parking is available in the C1 parking lot or in designated spaces on McCormick Avenue. For more information, please call the McIntire Department of Music at 434.924.3052.

For more information, visit:
www.music.virginia.edu/usingers
www.music.virginia.edu/chamber-singers
www.music.virginia.edu