Correction (Dec. 3 11:45 p.m.); Due to an editing error, this story incorrectly states that the piece "Musicians Wrestle Everywhere" would be performed at Wednesday's concert. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Carolina Choir and UNC Chamber Singers will bring heaven down to the stage tonight in their second concert of the season, entitled Celestial Voices.
Tonight’s free concert will feature both the Carolina Choir and UNC Chamber Singers performing individually and as a combined group for two pieces.
Both the 80-member Carolina Choir and 25-member UNC Chamber Singers will be performing a cappella, or without accompaniment.
This style of singing is a sharp contrast to their opening concert of the season. Carolina Choir performed with the prominent Bruckner Orchestra Linz in Memorial Hall in November.
“On this concert, the music is all a cappella,” said Susan Klebanow, director of UNC Chamber Singers and Carolina Choir and a professor in the music department.
“Singing a cappella is a very different challenge than singing with an orchestra.”
Klebanow, who has been directing the two groups for 20 years, said she is very excited about the diversity between the group’s two concerts this fall.
UNC Chamber Singers provided music for Morehead Planetarium’s annual Jupiter Ball in November. After singing music inspired by planets and the night sky for the ball, they wanted to continue that theme in their fall concert.
Featured pieces for tonight’s concert include “Spherical Madrigals” by Ross Lee Finney, “Sleep (Silvestri)” by Eric Whitacre and “Lux Aeterna” by Edward Elgar.
Tonight’s program will also include a wide range of works by German, English and American composers, from 1830 to the present, but all share an ethereal element.
One piece, “Musicians Wrestle Everywhere,” was written by Elliott Carter, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who is still alive today.
Charles Streeter, a 15-year member of Carolina Choir, said he is looking forward to the diversity of the music, especially the modern pieces.
“Some of the more modern music, if you are more used to singing classical music, can be very interesting,” Streeter said.
With such a wide variety of music, both on tonight’s concert and throughout the season, the two ensembles have had an exciting and packed season so far.
With tonight’s concert, the groups will finish their fall program.
They also have a large project planned for the spring and a concert scheduled for April.
“Typically the choirs take on one big project in the spring — this year it is ‘Carmina Burana,’” said Dani Nowell, president of Carolina Choir.
“Carmina Burana,” by Carl Orff, is based on 24 medieval poems from a 13th-century manuscript of the same name.
“This season is unique in that Carolina Choir had the opportunity to do a bigger project in the fall as well,” Nowell said.
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
