LAS CRUCES--- The internationally-acclaimed Concordia College Choir of Moorhead, Minnesota will perform with the Oñate High School Choir, Thursday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 200 East Boutz Road, as part of the college choir’s 15-day tour of the Southwestern United States.
“This [concert] is a great opportunity for our students to perform with a world-class college choir, under the direction of a world-renowned figure, René Clausen,” said Ryan Fellman, director of choirs at Oñate High School. “It helps sets the standard for their future performances, and it will hopefully get the students interested in some of the wonderful collegiate choir programs throughout the country.”
This is the first time the two choirs will perform together and one of only two performances in the tour, in which the Concordia choir will perform in collaboration with a high school choir. The tour will span five states and include performances in Denver, CO; Colorado Springs, CO; Santa Fe, NM; Las Cruces, NM; Tucson, AZ; Scottsdale, AZ; Sun City, AZ; Rancho Santa Fe, CA; Palm Desert, CA; Thousand Oaks, CA and Moorhead, MN.
The performance will include works from Pete Seeger, Norman Luboff and Shawn Kirchener, Hugo Distler, Heinrich Schutz, Krystof Penderecki, Alexandre Gretchaninoff, J.S. Bach, René Clausen, as well as, a number of hymns, folk songs and spirituals.
The Concordia choir is directed by René Clausen, a GRAMMY-award winning composer and conductor, who has written more than 120 commissioned compositions for ensembles across the world including the St. Olaf Choir and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Clausen has led the 72-voice acapella choir for the past 31 years, and in 2013, the Kansas City Chorale recording of, “Life and Breath: Choral Works by René Clausen,” won two GRAMMY awards, including one for Best Choral Performance.
The Concordia choir has toured nationally and internationally since 1918 and performed in nearly every major hall in the United States.
The Oñate High School Choir is under the direction of Fellman, a Concordia alumnus, who joined the Oñate High School staff in 2013. Under his direction the Oñate choir program has grown from 38 students to more than 100, in just three years.
In addition to expanding the choir program, Fellman has led the choir to consistently earn high scores in the district's music performance assessment and has already commissioned music by composers such as Timothy Takach, an award-winning composer based in Minneapolis, MN.
For more information or to buy tickets for the performance, visit: ConcordiaTickets.com or call 1-800-838-3006. Tickets will also be available at the door on the night of the performance.