Historical May 1985 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The 250 voices of The Young Singers of Missouri will perform Saturday afternoon, May 18, at 4:00 p.m. at Grace United Methodist Church, Skinker and Waterman.
The concert is free of charge, and the public is invited to attend. Featured on the program will be the seven rehearsal units which comprise the Young Singers organization, three of which meet regularly at Grace Methodist on Thursday afternoons. Skinker-DeBaliviere area residents who will be performing on the May 18 concert include Betsy Lowenhaupt, Katie Holt, Elizabeth Judy, Meta Bodewes, Shellie Givens, and Shannon Craft. Included in the repertoire will be Bach’s “Wir Eilen Mit Schwachen”; two settings of “Ave Maria”—the traditional setting by Schubert, and an earlier setting by Gabrieli; “Schon Blumelein,” by Schumann; and “Mandoline,” by Debussy—all in the original languages, and performed by the combined Advanced Choruses.
The Advanced Choruses will also perform three American folk songs—”The Battle of Jericho,” “Dance of the One-Legged Sailor,” and the well-known setting of “I Bought Me a Cat,” by Aaron Copland.
The Missouri Youth Chorale—the high school and college age unit of The Young Singers of Missouri—will perform selections from Brahms’ “Liebeslieder Waltzes”; Schubert’s “Lebenslust” and “Der Tanz”: “Sure On This Shining Night,” by Samuel Barber; and a set of Hungarian folk songs by Matyas Seiber.
The concert will also feature a selection of madrigals performed by the Missouri Youth Chorale, who will be dressed in the elegant Elizabethan costumes which have been one of the highlights of their annual Elizabethan Holiday Feastes.
The combined Intermediate Choruses will perform “Der Herr segne euch,” by Bach; Aaron Copland’s “Simple Gifts”; folk songs from Africa and Lebanon, and selections by contemporary composers Arthur Frackenpohl and Arlene Ydstie.
They will be joined by The Younger Singers—the youngest unit of Young Singers—for selections from “Annie.” This concert is part of the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of The Young Singers of Missouri. Founded on the Lindenwood College campus in 1974 with forty charter members, the Young Singers of Missouri has become an independently chartered non-profit organization which encompasses over 250 singers in seven rehearsal units, drawing the most talented singers, from over 90 area schools in five Missouri and Illinois counties.
With a stated goal of providing quality musical training through the choral medium, members of The Young Singers of Missouri have had opportunities to perform major works with the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Charles Choral Society and Orchestra, the Bel Canto Chorus, and the Orquestre de la Conservatorio Castella of San Jose, Costa Rica. International tours have taken Young Singers to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Romania, Mexico, and Costa Rica.
The Missouri Youth Chorale will depart July 7 for this year’s tour to Hawaii.
The combined Advanced Choruses are planning a trip to the South Pacific in June, 1986. Directors of The Young Singers of Missouri are Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth Greenlaw, Directors of Music at Grace United Methodist Church. Rehearsals will resume in the fall. Membership is by audition, and interested singers are encouraged to apply.
For further information, or to schedule an audition appointment, call Dr. or Mrs. Greenlaw, at 946-4579, or 863-1992.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, May 1985.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1985_05.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
