Concert Chorale to Perform Concert on Nov. 6

by Jacob Oedy

Cedarville’s Concert Chorale will perform this Tuesday at 5 p.m. in the DMC Recital Hall.

The 50-member vocal group contains a mixture of sopranos through basses. According to the group’s director, Dr. Lyle Anderson, the singers will perform a “broad cross-section” of music.

“We will do everything from Bach to Eric Whitacre to Americana,” said Anderson. “The chorale field is so rich and divergent, and I feel it’s important in a university setting to do many different styles.”

The various styles will include love ballads, contemporary music, and early American music, among others. The concert will also feature four pieces performed by the Vocal Arts Ensemble, an 11-member subset of the Chorale. The small ensemble’s repertoire includes spirituals, lullabies, and worship songs.

“Our hope and our prayer is that each piece will have a special significance to the audience, whether for its spiritual value or its entertainment value,” Anderson said. “Each piece has a life of its own.”

Dr. Anderson has directed the Concert Chorale for 49 years, virtually ever since his graduation from the university. Over his almost five decades of work with the group, Anderson has worked primarily without the accompaniment of instruments.

“We have one instrument: the human voice, which is very versatile. And there are no two alike,” said Anderson.

Rather than feeling confined by the human voice, however, Anderson stretches it to its fullest potential.

“We want to show the expressive quality that God built into this instrument that we all carry about within ourselves,” said Anderson. “We like to touch on as many human emotions as we can. We believe God gave music that special ability to express emotion, and we want to be genuine as we do that.”

Sophomore music major Karlie Ward shared what she loves about the Concert Chorale as she enters her second year with the group.

“One of the coolest things about it is that it’s a pretty good reflection of the university as a whole,” said Ward. “You don’t just have music majors there. You don’t just have theatre majors or art majors. Most of the members of the men’s section are actually engineering majors … You get a big circle that represents what the university looks like.”

Ward said she also appreciates the diverse selection of music performed by the group, along with the important message portrays. Ward explained that every concert performed by the Chorale is designed to take the audience through the various stages of the Gospel and leave them with an impactful picture of the Christian message.

The Concert Chorale and Vocal Arts Ensemble will perform the concert on Nov. 6, Wednesday, from 5–6 p.m. in the DMC Recital Hall. Admission will be free.

Jacob Oedy is a freshman journalism major and a staff writer for off-campus news and arts and entertainment. He enjoys creative writing, investigating, and hanging out with the best hall on campus, Brock 3 East.