The Lynchburg College Choral Union and Festival Orchestra will present a spring concert featuring Mass in C Major by Ludwig van Beethoven and Gospel Mass by Robert Ray on April 26 at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Lynchburg. Dr. Jong Kim, professor of music and director of choral activities, will conduct.
Soloists for the concert will be Nora Moore, soprano; Melanie Coleman, mezzo soprano; Estelle Elder, alto; Matthew Vickers, tenor; Derrick Thompson, bass. A rhythm section for the Gospel Mass will include Rose M. Peak, piano; Tim Davis, organ; and Ken Brand, drums.
Beethoven composed the Mass in C Major on a commission from Prince Nicholas Esterházy II in honor of his wife. Its first performance was on September 13, 1807. Although appreciated by many critics, the mass is probably one of the less performed of Beethoven's larger works. One critic wrote, "While [it] is often overshadowed by the immense Missa Solemnis, written some fifteen years later, it has directness and emotional content that the latter work sometimes lacks."
Robert Ray's Gospel Mass was composed in 1978 and premiered by the University of Illinois Black Chorus, Urbana campus. Written while Ray was a liturgy team member of the National Office of Black Catholics, the mass is his interpretation of 2,000 years of liturgical tradition within the contemporary music style of the Afro-American church.
Lecturer, clinician, conductor, pianist and educator, Ray is a graduate of Northwestern University and is currently associate professor of music and coordinator of keyboard studies at the University of Missouri St. Louis.
Tickets for the performance will be $10 for adults; $5 for seniors (over 60) and students; and $3 for children. Ticket information is available at 434/544-8344. Tickets are available at the Lynchburg College Bookstore, Givens Books, and Aylor's Farm and Garden.