Cal Poly Cantabile ACDA Send-Off Concert

Cal Poly Cantabile will present a preview concert of its American Choral Directors Association Western Region Conference performance.

*Note Special Location*

Cal Poly’s Cantabile will present a send-off concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 1, in the First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo, which will include works by Hildegard von Bingen, Caroline Shaw and new works by David N. Childs and Cal Poly music Professor Meredith Brammeier.
The concert will be a preview of Cantabile’s performance at the ACDA Western Region Conference titled “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in Pasadena, California, on March 8. The conference represents choral directors, singers and composers from seven states, and is one of the largest choral conferences in the U.S.

“An invitation to perform on an ACDA regional conference is highly competitive and sought after and one of the greatest honors a college choir can receive,” said Scott Glysson, Cal Poly’s director of choral activities and vocal studies.

Cantabile has commissioned two pieces that will be performed at both concerts: “She Weeps” by celebrated choral composer Childs of Dallas, and “Charity Begins Today” by Brammeier. “She Weeps” addresses the crisis of climate change and sustainability. It is scored for viola, percussion, piano and choir and was crafted in conjunction with 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s “Its Motion Keeps,” which reflects on the concept of the steady march of time. “Charity Begins Today” is a setting of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, the patron saint of World Youth Day and the Missionaries of Charity who is better known as Mother Teresa, and addresses the subject of caring for the poor.

The concert will also include a modern setting by Michael Engelhardt’s arrangement of Hildegard von Bingen’s “O Antiqui Sancti.” Von Bingen (also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine), lived in 11th century-Germany, and was one of the world’s first “named” composers. This arrangement is pulled from a portion of her famous morality play, “Ordo Virtutum.” Engelhardt is a singer, songwriter, composer, vocal coach, producer, and director, whose work has been featured on ABC, NBC, PBS and NPR broadcasts.

Music major Jayden Perez, viola, a senior from Visalia, California; and Cal Poly faculty member John Astaire, percussion; will accompany the choirs for the Childs, Shaw and von Bingen works.

The concert will also feature a portion dedicated to imaginations. The set will include a wonderful setting of “Pure Imagination” from the soundtrack of the 1971 musical fantasy “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” as well as the impressionistic composer Lily Boulanger’s setting of “Les Sirens.”

Glysson will conduct the concert, and Paul Woodring accompanies the choirs.