UNIVERSITY CHOIR TO HOLD CONCERT AT OLD ST. VINCENT'S

The Southeast Missouri State choir will present its annual spring concert Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Old St. Vincent's Church.

John Egbert, coordinator of choral and vocal studies and director of the choir at Southeast, said the event will take place in an appropriate setting.

"The program was selected to take musical advantage of the architectural design of the church and to reflect some of the styles of music heard in this part of the country at the time Old St. Vincent's Church was constructed," said Egbert.

The opening section of the concert consists of secular, sacred and liturgical music of the late Renaissance. The liturgical and sacred settings are styles that would have been heard regularly in churches and cathedrals throughout Europe as long as 400 years ago and are still in use today.

The middle section of the program is a group of Early American hymn tunes and Shaker songs and is reflective of the type of congregational singing popular in the South, Southeast and Midwest from the 18th through late 19th centuries.

Some of these settings are still found in church hymnals and can be heard today during regional, rural revivals.

Said Egbert, "The two pieces from the `Sacred Harp' were still being sung at the `Benton Big Sing' when I was in undergraduate school in Western Kentucky in the late 1960s."

Numerous hymn tunes were written and sung across the American frontier around the time of the founding of Old St. Vincent's Church. The authentic setting provides a look into early musical heritage.

The concert will end with a variety of 20th century literature from such notable composers as Flor Peeters, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Norman Dello Jolo.

The next major choral concert is scheduled for May 3, when the university choir joins the Choral Union and University Orchestra in Academic Auditorium at 8 p.m. for a performance of Parts II and III of Handel's Messiah.

"Many people know the Christmas section of Messiah, but are unfamiliar with parts II and III, which contain some of Handel's finest writing," said Egbert. "You will not want to miss the dramatic conclusion."

Admission for both concerts is $4 for adults, $2 for senior citizens and students, and free with a university ID.