Programme
Ruth Watson Henderson – Missa Brevis, Kyrie, Gloria
Tomás Luis de Victoria – O magnum mysterium
Healey Willan – The Three Kings
Frank Ferko – O verbum Patris
arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams – Five English Folk Songs
arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Spring Time of the Year
arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Dark-eyed Sailor
Dan Forrest – Over Havet
Murray Schafer – Gamelan
Randall Thompson – Alleluia
arr. John Rutter – Sing a Song of Sixpence from Five Childhood Lyrics
Performers
Drake Chamber Choir
Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa, is a private liberal arts university primarily dedicated to undergraduate education. The University’s mission is to prepare students for meaningful personal lives, professional accomplishments, and responsible global citizenship. The frequent tours undertaken by the choral program are seen as an important realization of this mission. The choral program at Drake consists of four ensembles, of which the Chamber Choir is the most select. The ensemble has sung in major venues not only in England but also in Ireland, Wales, Austria, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, and Finland, as well as in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City and other venues throughout the United States. The choir has been chosen by audition to perform on conference programs of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and has worked with well-known composers, conductors, and ensembles such as David Hill (England), Robert Sund (Sweden), Eriks Esenvalds (Latvia), Stephen Paulus (USA), Cantus (USA), and the King’s Singers (England).
Aimee Beckmann-Collier, Director of Choral Studies and the Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Conducting at Drake University, is the conductor of the ensemble. In addition to conducting her own choirs in tours throughout the US and the countries listed above, she has served as a festival conductor and clinician in the US, England, and China. She has served as president of the Iowa Choral Directors Association (ICDA), the North Central Division of the American Choral Directors Association (NC ACDA), has been chairperson of conferences of ICDA and NC ACDA, and was the assistant chair of ACDA’s most recent national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her articles on performance practices, choral pedagogy, and the role of choral music in a globalized world have appeared in The Choral Journal and the Music Educators Journal. She is the recipient of Drake University’s Madelyn Levitt Award for Distinguished Community Service, as well as the Stalnaker Lecturer designation, the Distinguished Alumna Award from her undergraduate alma mater (Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana), the Iowa Music Educators Association Distinguished Service Award, National Federation Interscholastic Music Association Outstanding Music Educators Award, the Robert McGowen Award, given by the Iowa choral Directors Association, and ACDA’s Weston F. Noble Lifetime Achievement Award.
