The last Fall Choral Concert of the semester at Sinclair Community College features songs that are both humorous and serious, under the title “Panthers, Laws and Aglepta”.
“This is our end of the semester Fall Choral Concert,” Music Professor Nolan Long said. “We will be doing two concerts; a mini-sampler concert in the library and the entire concert just down the street at St. John’s Lutheran church on Ludlow and Fifth [streets].”
The mini-sampler will be in the library on Nov. 14 at 2:20 p.m.
Long said both of the concerts will feature three of Sinclair’s ensembles, including the Women’s Ensemble, Chamber Choir and Chorale. Each of the groups will perform their own segments and join together to sing “Hallelujah” by George Frideric Handel at the end.
Long said the sampler performance will last about a half hour.
“The mini-sampler concert is a concert of all the ensembles put together; we are obviously not able to do all of our music,” Long said. “But it’s hopefully enough to encourage people to come back to hear the entire concert [at St. John’s church].”
Long said he tried to come up with a title that would be interesting to students, so he chose “Panthers, Laws and Aglepta”.
The Origin of “Panthers,
Laws and Aglepta”
“The Panthers element comes from a set of three pieces by American composer Eric Whitacre,” Long said. “We are only doing the first set of three called, ‘The Panther, the Cow and the Firefly.’”
He said each of the movements are funny, a main reason why he picked the piece.
“They are all three humorous texts about a panther, a cow and a firefly — a total play on words,” he said.
The Chamber Choir, which is intentionally small and includes a maximum 16 students, will be doing a set of three pieces entitled “Three Recent Rulings.”
“All of them are texts of actual legal laws throughout the country that make no sense whatsoever,” he said. “Like, candy manufactures can put nuts in their products even if the nuts in question are peanuts, according to Providence Rhode Island.”
According to Long, the piece giving the Women’s Ensemble the most trouble is entitled “Aglepta” by Swedish composer Mellnäs. This piece does not have traditional notation.
“It is of Swedish derivation, an avant-garde piece with the ladies making sounds to scare away an oncoming army,” Long said. “It’s an intentional war cry involvement — as a result, you have screams and a lot of non-musical sounds.”
Additional Arrangements being sung
“The Women’s Ensemble will start the concert with a composition from the 1300s,” Long said. “It’s a slow, dramatic selection with tambourine.”
The Women’s Ensemble will also do pieces from Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and American composer William Shuman, along with a folk song from Canada.
The choir is also doing separate pieces by composer Egil Hovland; a French piece called “Dirait-On” by Morten Lauridsen; a folk song by Aaron Copland entitled the “Boatmen’s Dance” and an arrangement of “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
In addition, the Chorale will be performing pieces from the Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestina, German composer Johannes Brahms and Venezuelan composer Antonio Estevaz. Included will be an American Folk Song entitled “Sally Ann” and an African American Spiritual entitled “This Train.”
“I really tried to put together a concert with a whole bunch of variety and different sounds, with fun music, as well as serious music,” Long said. “I want to balance everything to encourage student involvement and student appreciation of quality music.”
Main concert at St. John’s Lutheran Church
On Nov. 24, the Fall Choral Concert will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Church on the corner of Fifth street and Ludlow street.
“It’s free admission and there is plenty of parking,” he said. “At the church performance, I purposely have the concert at a location off campus where the acoustics of the building lend themselves to quality sound.”
Long said students can walk to the church if desired, another reason why he chose the location, stating that it was convenient.
At the concert, the Women’s Ensemble will start off, along with the Chamber choir and Sinclair Chorale. Altogether, 20 pieces will be sung.
“I hope that the students enjoy working together as a group and that they acquire confidence in their singing ability,” he said. “And that they acquire self-confidence and pride in what they are doing.”
Long said he encourages students to find their love for music and learn from the experience.
“Most of the music I do is music I have not done before,” Long said. “I strive to keep myself fresh and the students fresh by not repeating repertoire.”
Long said all of the Choral Ensembles are open to students and they are encouraged to participate.
“I always enjoy a variety of disciplines and majors and community individuals to join with us,” he said. “I am always looking for new people.”
For more information about joining the choir, contact Long at (937) 512-4057 or email him at Nolan.long@sinclair.edu.
“I love being able to hopefully contribute to [the students] quality of life,” Long said. “To bring beauty to their soul and enjoying living and creating the beautiful sounds that can come out of the human body.”