Midwinter Music Recap

University Singers performing a piece at the Midwinter Choral Concert. Photo taken by Jackie Allen

Last week the music ensembles at UMD had multiple events that kept them busy. Friday, Feb. 24 was the Symphony Orchestra Concert, conducted by Dr. Rudy Perrault. The symphonic orchestra is comprised of students, faculty and community players. It is open to all students at the university who play an orchestral instrument — non-music majors and post-secondary high school students are particularly encouraged to audition. The full ensemble performed five pieces together. These pieces included “Eritaj,” “Fòs Nou,” “La Délaissée et ses Soupirs,” “La Conga del Fuego Nuevo” and “Huapango.” Additionally, a group of high school string players from Duluth East and Superior and a string quartet from the Twin Cities performed their own piece. 

Saturday, Feb. 25 was the Midwinter Choral Concert featuring Concert Chorale, directed by Dr. Ryan Deignan, Chamber Singers and University Singers, directed by Dr. Richard Robbins. Concert Chorale is UMD’s large non-audition choral group and Chamber Singers is a small audition-based choral group that is made up of women, this year, and University Singers is UMD’s large audition-based choral group. Concert Chorale was the first group to perform. Their first piece was “Terre Neuve,” by Marie Claire Saindon. “Terre Neuve” is the French meaning for Newfoundland. This piece provides vivid imagery about looking out onto the beautiful natural elements of a new land.  Their second piece was “Sweet Day,” by Ralph Vauqhan Williams and their third piece was “Dance in the Graveyards,” by Ian Holljes & Eric Holljes, arranged by Justin Harvard. This piece featured soloist Gray Paguyo, trio Alex Glenn, Jack Noll and Jordan Leiner and percussionists Connor Filipi, Mitchell España and Charlie Smith. 

The next group was Chamber Singers. Their first piece was “How Merrily We Live,” followed by “Dominus Vobiscum,” and their third piece was “Lauliku lapsepõl”—  in English, “The Songster’s Childhood,” from Songs of Singing and the Songster, an Estonian folk song, arranged by Velji Tormis. Their fourth piece was “Mouth Song,”  accompanied by Connor Filipi on drum and their final piece was “The Parting Glass: A Celtic Farewell” arranged by The Wailin’ Jennys. 

The University Singers was the last group to perform. The University Singer’s portion of the concert had a “love songs” theme to it, as three of their six songs were about love. These three “love songs” were “The Turtle Dove,” featuring soloist Brandon Wruck, “And love be written on running water” and “Wedding Cantata,” a four-movement piece. The first movement featured soloists Ben Jorgenson and Eva Kraske. The last three songs were by composers William Byrd, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Mark Raeniel B. Agpasa. 

Symphonic Wind Ensemble performing “Hold Fast Your Dream,” featuring Dr. Brett Linksi. Photo taken by Ben Carpenter

Sunday, Feb. 26 was the UMD Bands Concert, featuring the Concert Band and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Mark Whitlock and graduate assistant Nathan Mitchell. Concert Band is UMD’s large non-audition ensemble, and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble is UMD’s large audition-based ensemble. Concert Band was the first group to perform, playing four pieces. Two of their songs were themes about the natural elements of the world, “Earth Song” and “Sky Bound.” Their two other songs were by composers Richard Saucedo and Oscar Navarro. 

Next, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble performed, playing five pieces. Their first two pieces were “Toccata Marziale” and “Elegy.” Their third piece was “Hold Fast Your Dreams (Oboe Concerto No. 2), a three-movement piece, featuring oboe soloist Dr. Brett Linski. Their fourth piece was “Angels in the Architecture” accompanied by soprano soloist Isabel Blakewell and their final piece was a three-movement piece by Philip Sparke. 

Finally, on Wednesday, Mar. 1 and Thursday, Mar. 2,  the University Singers went on a choir recruitment tour around the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The purpose of this recruitment tour is to give high school students the experience to work with and observe a college-level choral group for a chance to get a better understanding and interest for music at a college level. This tour is also a way to gain students’ interest in potentially attending UMD. This is the first recruitment tour the group has done since the fall of 2019. University Singers typically goes on a regional tour once every year, but the group has not been able to do so the last three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The group visited Prior Lake High School and Mound High School on Wednesday and visited Coon Rapids High School and Monticello High School on Thursday. 

The University Singers visiting Monticello High School during their choir recruitment tour. Photo by Richard Robbins

Students can join these ensembles by registering for them when registering for other classes for the semester. These ensembles are great ways for people to improve their musical skills and work with others who are passionate about music. These ensembles are also a great way to meet new people and make friends. You can follow the choirs of UMD on Instagram @umdsings. To see when future performances are, visit UMD Music (umn.edu).