Bach Choir, Kinge’s Quire join voices for concerts
The Chattanooga Bach Choir will partner with The Kinge’s Quire for two performances of “The Spirit Soars: Sacred Music for Double Choir” this weekend.
The first performance will be Saturday night, Nov. 17, at Christ Church Episcopal; the second on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 18, at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church on Signal Mountain.
“The Spirit Soars” features sacred music from the 16th through the 20th centuries, including works by Renaissance and Baroque masters to contemporary composers.
David Long, Bach Choir artistic director, says, “The music we are performing on this program celebrates and explores the wide-ranging literature for multiple choirs including polychoral music, choral music with divided parts and choral music in canon style.”
Thomas Tallis’ “Spem in Alium,” written for eight choirs of five voices each, builds from one voice to 40 with continuous overlapping between entrances, which creates an ethereal sound. Bach’s “Singet dem Herrn,” written for two choirs of four parts each, alternates passages back and forth between the two choirs with the occasional joining of the two.
Australian composer Stephen Leek’s “Ngana” is a musical depiction of a shark on the Great Barrier Reef. It features complex rhythms in canon form with each part repeating the first part until all have finished. Paul Mealor’s motet, “Ubi Caritas,” sets this Lenten hymn in slow-moving close harmonies bringing together ancient and modern sounds that build and recede in intensity.
The Kinge’s Quire, which specializes in English choral music, will perform “When David Heard.”
Established in 1985, the Chattanooga Bach Choir focuses on performing choral works by Johann Sebastian Bach, in addition to choral-orchestral masterworks of all periods.
The Kinge’s Quire is an area vocal ensemble that sings music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, as well as modern anthems and motets from the English choral tradition. It is directed by Gerald Peel.
For tickets or information: www.chattanooga bachchoir.org