Graceland Music Department Presents Of Love and Light

Friday, Feb. 26, the Graceland University combined choirs will present their first concert of the spring semester: “Of Love and Light.” This concert will feature the concert choir, chamber singers and the Graceland Harmonium under the direction of Graceland Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities Sara Blessing. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Shaw Family Auditorium.

The first half of the concert features songs centered around the theme of “love.” The first song, a set of five songs by composer Eric Whitacre, is titled “Five Hebrew Love Songs.” It will feature Associate Professor of Music Jack Ergo on piano and Graceland senior Beth Presler on violin. Additional songs about love will include an arrangement of “Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone” by the Graceland Harmonium, “O Love” by American composer Elaine Hagenberg, and “Seasons of Love” from the popular musical “Rent.”

There will be a brief intermission and then the second half of the concert will focus on the theme of “light.” The second half opens with “Bright Morning Stars” by Swedish composer Anders Paulsson and will feature Ergo on organ, Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands Christopher Brandt on soprano saxophone, and seniors Daryn Nowlin and Jordan Bradford as soloists. Harmonium will perform “Northern Lights” by Ola Gjeilo, and then the combined choirs will close with “Dark and Luminous Night,” featuring Presler on violin and Ergo on piano.

Tickets are required for entrance and can be reserved online at graceland.edu/vpa/shaw-ticket-office. The concert will also be livestreamed at graceland.edu/live. Face mask/coverings are required at all times, social distancing will be enforced, and a COVID-19 screening, including temperature screening and questionnaire, will be performed for campus visitors prior to entrance.