Kaneland choir joins in NIU concert Wednesday

Posted October 15, 2011 12:00 am

Submitted by Northern Illinois University

The Northern Illinois University School of Music is combining forces to perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem” at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19.

It’s a 35-minute work Vaughan Williams composed in the mid-1930s after having served in World War I and in the forming clouds of World War II. He took the powerful war poetry of Walt Whitman and combined it with the liturgical text praying for peace. The work combines devastating imagery of the horrors of war with Vaughan Williams’ undying hope that humanity can rise above hostility and find peace.

Performing will be the NIU Philharmonic, NIU Concert Choir, guest Kaneland High School Concert Choir with alumni director Bryan Kunstman, and faculty soloists Orna Arania and Robert Sims. Additionally, Chamber Choir will perform Israeli choral music featuring the evolution of composition in a country that grew up out of and through war.

The concert will be held in Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the Music Building, 400 Lucinda Ave., DeKalb. It is accessible to all. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Lynn Slater at lslater@niu.edu or (815) 753-1546.

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