Free concert! Centralia College Vocal Ensembles

The Centralia College Choir is presenting a concert featuring music celebrating the holidays of January through March, along with selections from classical vocal music repertoire. A free will offering will be collected and all donations will be given to the Lewis County Food Bank.

Sections of the Mass have been set to music for hundreds of years and represent a historical way for a composer to demonstrate his or her creativity and skill in setting the 1,000 year old texts to music that represents the composer’s taste and current musical environment. Every notable composer from J.S. Bach to Andrew Lloyd Webber has written music for the words of the Mass. For the first half of the program the choir will present music selected from various mass settings: “Kyrie” from “Memorial” by René Clausen, “Agnus Dei” and “Benedictus” by Brian Lewis, “Holy” by Craig Courtney, and “Ubi Caritas” by Mark Burrows.

Irish/Scottish favorites “O My Luve’s Like a Red, Red Rose” based on the poem by Robert Burns (1759 – 1796), and “Danny Boy” by Fred Weatherly. “How Can I Keep from Singing” is a Quaker hymn, arranged by Gwyneth Walker and “The Gift to be Simple” is a traditional Shaker tune.

A women’s ensemble will sing “My True Love Has My Heart” based on the poem by Sir Philip Sidney (1554 – 1586) and “Hail Holy Queen” from “Sister Act.” The men’s ensemble will be singing “Grace” by Mark Hayes and “Come to Me, O My Love” by Allan Petker. Another ensemble will be singing “That Lonesome Road” by James Taylor, “Loch Lomond”, “My Funny Valentine”, and “I’m a Train.”