From Folk Songs to Sacred Works: Choral Concerts Offer Harmonious Blend of Music

Men’s Chorus, Women’s Chorus and Concert Choir will each give their final performances for the semester

It took reinvention and resolve for School of Music students to continue rehearsing and performing together during a pandemic. After a year like none other, three BYU choirs will end the season with joyous performances celebrating faith, hope and love.

Men’s Chorus

Livestreamed performance March 26 at 7:30 p.m.

The BYU Men’s Chorus is known and loved for its bold swell of voices and uplifting performances, and director Brent Wells assured audiences that the upcoming concert is no different.

“This program shows a lot of variety, but people who love Men’s Chorus will recognize it as being right in step with a traditional Men’s Chorus presentation,” he said. “The concert is a mix of folk and traditional music, classical repertoire and beloved hymns from the Christian tradition. We will also open and close the concert with African American spirituals.”

The first set of music is Four Hymns from Yesteryear, featuring American revivalist hymns from the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, including “Zion’s Walls” and “How Firm a Foundation.”

Three Selections for Palm Sunday is a nod to the fact that the concert takes place just two days before the Christian holiday. The songs and liturgical texts celebrate Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

A folk and bluegrass set will include a collaboration with BYU folk ensemble Mountain Strings. Songs include “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,” “Hard Times Come Again More,” and the gospel tune “Let the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Women’s Chorus

Livestreamed performance April 2 at 7:30 p.m.

The Women’s Chorus will perform music from a variety of styles and eras, all centering on a theme of  “Light and Love.” 

“The centerpiece of the concert is the premiere of the treble setting of Dan Forrest’s ‘The Sun Never Says,’” said director Sonja Poulter. The a cappella piece is based on text from a Hafez poem that reads, “After all this time, the sun never says to the earth: you owe me. And look what happens with a love like this, it lights the whole sky.”

“The text seems so fitting in times like this, when a pandemic combined with social and racial injustices have brought much darkness and loneliness, and where the strength of divine and human love can bring hope and light,” Poulter said.

Concert Choir

Livestreamed performance April 8 at 7:30 p.m.

The BYU Concert Choir, also directed by Brent Wells, will celebrate the wonder of childhood. 

The choir will perform Haydn’s “Little Organ Mass,” a major historic work with six movements featuring organ, strings and soprano solo. Also on the program is a set of Latin choral works, including a beautiful setting of Psalm 100, “Jubilate Deo.” 

Five children’s Primary songs arranged for chorus focus on simplicity and beauty for the set Suffer the Little Children to Come unto Me. The childhood theme continues with music that includes poetry and text from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.”

The performance will also feature a piece by choral composer Ola Gjeilo, scored for chorus, string quartet, piano and acoustic guitar. 

The BYU Singers, directed by Andrew Crane, will join as special guests for the event.