Hendricks Chapel Choir will offer a preview of the repertoire that will be performed on Eastern European tour in May

Hendricks Chapel Choir will offer a preview of the repertoire that will be performed on Eastern European tour in MayApril 17, 2001Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel Choir will present a preview concert at 7:30 p.m. May 6 in Hendricks Chapel, featuring the repertoire it will perform on a spring tour of Eastern Europe May 15 to 23.  The choir will travel to Poland and Czechoslovakia, performing in churches and schools in Warsaw, Czestochowa, Cracow and Prague. The program includes three motets written by Polish Renaissance composers during the 13th and 14th centuries in the original Latin and Polish languages. The concert will also include “Psalm 67” by Charles Ives, “The Last Words of David” by Randall Thompson, “Songs of Nature” by Anton Dvorak and “Gershwin-A Concert Panorama,” arranged by John Higgins.  “There is a musical and choral tradition in Poland and Czechoslovakia that is very wonderful,” says G. Burton Harbison, SU director of choral activities and associate professor of voice. “This tour is an important outreach for the University because it helps to inform people in other parts of the world about our students’ contributions to music.” The largely a cappella repertoire includes one song written by the late Earl George, a former SU professor who founded another choir group on campus called the Syracuse University Singers. The choir will perform a song from George’s “Songs of Innocence,” a set of songs based on William Blake’s poems. Established almost 70 years ago, the Hendricks Chapel Choir is one of the University’s richest musical traditions. The 48-member group is composed of students from all academic disciplines. Under Harbison’s direction, the choir performs both on and off campus throughout the academic year. Harbison has received critical acclaim for guest conducting appearances with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony and the SyracuseCamerata.