EIU Media Relations

EIU Choral Ensembles to Present 'Songs of Love'

Eastern Illinois University's Choral Ensembles will celebrate Valentine's Day and more in its "Songs of Love" concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13, in EIU's Doudna Fine Arts Center.

"We decided to sing about love not only as a romantic attachment, but also about love that relates us to family, home, nature, memories, etc.," said Sergei Pavlov, who is directing the Choral Ensembles and the Eastern Symphony Orchestra while Richard Rossi is on sabbatical.

The Mixed Choir is to perform "David's Lamentation" by William Billings, "Sing Me to Heaven" by Daniel Gawthrop, "Three Madrigals" by Emma Lou Diemer, and "The Green Bushes" arranged by Alexander Tilley.

The Concert Choir's program is to include "Old Kentucky Home," "Old Folks at Home" and "Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming," all by Stephen Foster; "Comin' Thro' the Rye" arranged by Joseph Flummerfelt; and "Love" by Edward Elgar.

Pavlov, a native of Bulgaria, earned master's degrees in orchestral and choral conducting from the National Conservatory of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria. He taught conducting there from 2001 until 2004, when he moved to the United States.

Since 2008, he has been guest conductor of Classic FM Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bulgaria.

In the past five years, Pavlov has been the assistant conductor of the Illinois Opera Theater at Krannert Center at the University of Illinois, where he is a doctoral candidate. His teachers and mentors include the names of Miroslav Popsavov, Donald Schleicher, Fred Stoltzfus, Eduardo Diazmuñoz and Joseph Flummerfelt.

Other recent engagements include chorus master and assistant conductor of Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and a 2010 conducting debut with the orchestra of the Spoleto Festival USA. This summer, Pavlov will return to the festival as an assistant conductor for the production of the opera "The Medium" by Giancarlo Menotti, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the composer.

Tickets -- $5 for the general public and $3 for students, senior citizens and EIU employees -- may be purchased in person at the Doudna Fine Arts Center Box Office, by telephone at 217-581-3110, or online at www.eiu.edu/doudna.

The concert will be held in the Dvorak Concert Hall. The Doudna Fine Arts Center is a division of the EIU College of Arts and Humanities.