Thursday, December 4, 2008

UIS music groups to present Fall Showcase Concert

Music groups at the University of Illinois at Springfield will present their annual Fall Showcase concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday, December 12, in the Studio Theatre, located on the lower level of the Public Affairs Center on the UIS campus. The event is free and open to the public; however tax-deductible contributions to the UIS Music Student Merit Award will be accepted.

The program will feature the UIS Chorus, Band, Chamber Orchestra, and related small ensembles.

The UIS Chorus will perform a variety of vocal selections including secular music by Mozart, an Agnus Dei setting by Hassler, American folk songs, and a contemporary composition featuring a Zimbabwean proverb. The UIS Chamber Orchestra will perform works by Respighi and Hindemith. Three small ensembles will perform Renaissance works, and the UIS Jazz Workshop will share their interpretation of some American classics.

The UIS Band will pay homage to the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln with two works -- Francis Scala's Union March, written for Lincoln's 1861 inauguration, and Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait, featuring David Kuhn narrating as Civil War General Benjamin H. Grierson.

Audience members who arrive early can hear a pre-concert lecture by Jessica Davis, graduate student in musicology at the U of I at Urbana-Champaign. The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in the Studio Theatre lobby; doors will open for the concert immediately following the lecture.

For more information, contact Sharon Graf, associate professor of Ethnomusicology, at 206-6570.