Gustavus Oratorio Festival Celebrates With Combined Choirs & Orchestra

The concert choirs of Sauk Rapids-Rice, Mankato East and Robbinsdale Cooper High Schools will join the Gustavus Choir, the Choir of Christ Chapel and the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra in a celebration of music on Tuesday, April 16 for the 2013 Gustavus Oratorio Festival on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus. Under the direction of Conductor Gregory Aune, the festival will feature the individual choirs and the massed choirs with the Gustavus Symphony at 7:00 p.m., in Christ Chapel. Tickets are not required for the Festival Concert in Christ Chapel. The performance is free and open to the public.

The Festival Concert will open with performances by the Sauk Rapids-Rice High School Concert Choir under the direction of Andrew Hasty, the Mankato East High School Concert Choir with Conductor Robin Hughes and the Robbinsdale Cooper High School and Director Sheryl Brame. Conductor Brandon Dean then leads the Choir of Christ Chapel to the chancel to present works by Leland Sateren, Eric Whitacre and an arrangement by Ethan Sperry of Balleilakka. The Gustavus Choir and Conductor Gregory Aune conclude the solo choirs half of the concert with Claude Debussy’s Trois Chansons and Richard Jackson’s Crossin’ Over.

As the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra takes its place, the five choirs will form a massed choir in Christ Chapel. Under the direction of Conductor Gregory Aune, the massed choir will join more than 350 voices to open the final set of the festival with Achieved is the Glorious Work by Franz Joseph Haydn, followed by Awake from Die Meistersinger by Richard Wagner, and How Lovely Are the Messengers from St. Paul by Felix Mendelssohn. The 2013 Gustavus Oratorio Festival Concert will conclude with the massed choir performing Z. Randall Stroope’s Homeland.

Under the direction of Conductor Gregory Aune, the 2013 Gustavus Oratorio Festival Concert will feature five individual choirs and a massed choirs with the Gustavus Symphony at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 16, in Christ Chapel. Tickets are not required. The performance is free and open to the public.