HICKORY, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne A Cappella Choir and Brass Ensemble announce their annual spring semester tour, Feb. 15-17, 2019, with performances in Morganton, Wilmington, and Burlington, North Carolina. Choir and brass will also participate in Sunday morning worship at St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church in Wilmington.
All performances are open to the public and no tickets are required. The program will feature choral, organ, and brass music of a variety of time periods and styles, including Gregorio Allegri’s celebrated “Miserere Mei Deus” and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Hear My Prayer.” This cantata will feature soprano soloists Alexandria McNeely of Vale, North Carolina, and Bailey Beam of Lincolnton, North Carolina, both seniors in vocal performance and sacred music, with organist Jenna Waters, a junior in sacred music from Hickory. The program will also consist of hymn arrangements and the music of the Appalachian Folk tradition, including J. David Moore’s arrangement of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” as well as compositions by Kim André Arneson, Jeffrey Ames, Williametta Spencer, Daniel Gawthrop, and Dan Forrest.
The Lenoir-Rhyne A Cappella Choir and Brass Ensemble 2019 spring tour includes the following performances:
7 p.m., Friday, Feb. 15, at First Baptist Church, 502 W. Union St., Morganton, North Carolina,
7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb.16, at St. Andrews-Covenant Church, 1416 Market St., Wilmington, North Carolina,
8:45 and 11 a.m., Sunday, Feb.17, at St. Andrews-Covenant Church, 1416 Market St., Wilmington, North Carolina, with participation in morning worship services, and
7 p.m., Sunday, Feb.17, at Macedonia Lutheran Church, 421 W. Front St., Burlington, North Carolina.
The LR A Cappella Choir and Brass Ensemble spring home concert will be held at 4 p.m., Saturday, March 30, at LR’s Grace Chapel.
The LR A Cappella Choir is directed by Ryan Luhrs, Ph.D., assistant professor of music and director of choral activities, accompanied by Jeana Neal Borman, staff accompanist and music instructor. Christopher Nigrelli, professor of music, conducts the LR Brass Ensemble.
Founded in 1935 by St. Olaf Choir alumnus Kenneth Lee, the Lenoir-Rhyne A Cappella Choir has toured throughout the United States and abroad, including a 2015 music-mission trip to Costa Rica. The choir has performed at the installations of two national Evangelical Lutheran Church in America bishops and for the 200th Anniversary of the North Carolina Synod. During the 2017-18 school year, the choir participated in a worship event commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in Charlotte led by ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton and collaborated with the Western Piedmont Symphony Orchestra, the Hickory Chorale Society, and Catawba Valley Community College Choirs to perform Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9.” In May 2019, the choir will travel to Ireland.
For more information about the Lenoir-Rhyne A Cappella Choir spring tour, visit lr.edu/publicevents or contact Luhrs at ryan.luhrs@lr.edu.
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Photo Credit: A Cappella Choir photo by Mikeala Skelton, Lenoir-Rhyne University
