EIU Media Relations

EIU Choral, Percussion Ensembles to Present 'Multi-Cultural Concert'

The Eastern Illinois University Choral Ensembles and Percussion Ensemble will join forces to present works that span the globe in their "Multi-Cultural Concert" in the Doudna Fine Arts Center on April 30.

The concert will begin at 7 p.m. in Dvorak Concert Hall. A variety of cultures will be represented, including Armenian, South African, Hebrew and Afro-Cuban.

Jamie V. Ryan, one of Eastern’s newest faculty members, is director of the Percussion Ensemble. Choral faculty members Richard Robert Rossi and Adam Stich direct the Concert Choir and University Mixed Chorus, respectively.

Graduate student Janet McCumber will conduct a women's piece with the University Mixed Chorus, and April Lee will conduct a song with the Concert Choir.

The Concert Choir will present the first movement of "Chichester Psalms" by Leonard Bernstein, in Hebrew; "Lord, I Want to be a Christian," a spiritual arranged by Rossi; and "Loosin Yelav," an Armenian folk song arranged by Paul Carey.

The Percussion Ensemble selections include Minoru Miki's "Marimba Spiritual" and Amadeo Roldan's "Ritmicas 5 and 6." The musicians will play the traditional bata drums used in saluting Afro-Cuban gods known as "orishas" and then take the audience to the courtyards of Havana Vieja with the sounds of rumba.

Following the influence of Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaria, the Percussion Ensemble will then perform its own compositions rooted in the salsa sounds of Havana's Tropicana club and New York's Palladium. The ensemble will also play a "conga de comparsa," indulging in the sounds of the Carnaval street parade Afro-Cuba celebrates every Jan. 6.

The Mixed Chorus will perform "Gabi, Gabi," a traditional South African song arranged by William C. Powell; "Missa Pequeña" and "Creo en Dios" by Francisco Nuñez; "A Red, Red, Rose" by James Mulholland; and, with marimba, "Halleluyah!" by Bill Derksen.

Tickets for general-admission seating are $5 for the general public and $3 for seniors, EIU employees and students. For tickets and information, or to arrange accommodations for persons with special needs, contact Doudna Fine Arts Patron Services (217-581-3110 or doudnatix@eiu.edu) or visit the Doudna Fine Arts Center Box Office.

The Doudna Fine Arts Center is a division of the EIU College of Arts and Humanities. For more information, please see http://www.eiu.edu/doudna.