The Greenville Choral Society will perform songs of harvest, praise, and thanksgiving at its opening concert of the 2007-8 season on Sunday, Oct. 28, at 7:30 p.m., at Peace Presbyterian Church on Old Tar Road in Greenville. The program will feature music by the full concert choir and smaller chamber chorale. The concert choir will perform “Sing to the Lord of Harvest” by Healey Willan, “Give Thanks and Sing” by Lloyd Larson, “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord” by Dale Grotenhuis, and four 19th-century American folk hymns arranged by Mark Wilberg, among other works. The choir also will perform Dale Warland’s setting for “Simple Gifts,” John Ness Beck’s arrangement of “We Gather Together,” and “The Promise of Living” from Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land. The chamber chorale will perform John Rutter’s arrangement of “All Things Bright and Beautiful” as well as Hugo Distler’s “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” and Rutter’s “For the Beauty of the Earth.”
The Choral Society’s annual year-end holiday concert, which will feature the Concert Choir, Chamber Chorale, and three children’s and youth groups, will take place Friday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m., at Faith and Victory Church, 3950 Victory Lane, Wintervillle, and will be highlighted by a performance of 18th-century Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s “Magnificat.” This concert is open to the public at no charge as the Choral Society’s gift to the community, made possible by a grant from the Mildred Sheffield Wells Charitable Trust.
The Choral Society’s sixth annual black-tie fund-raiser, “A Night on the Red Carpet,” will take place Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Hilton Hotel, with Oscar-winning songs to be performed.
The Choral Society also has tentative plans to sing in Williamston in early March at a date and place to be announced.
The youth and children’s groups will present their spring concert on Saturday, April 5, at 7 p.m., at Memorial Baptist Church, and the Chamber Chorale will present its spring concert Saturday, May 3, at 7 p.m., at Peace Presbyterian Church.
The season will close on Saturday, May 17, at 7 p.m., with a performance at Oakmont Baptist Church of Franz Joseph Haydn’s The Creation, an oratorio for chorus, soloists, and orchestra.
The Greenville Choral Society has been performing for nearly 40 years and has as its main goal providing fine choral music for residents of Pitt County and beyond. In all, nearly 200 singers, ranging in age from 8 to 76, perform in the various groups within the Society. Dan Bara, head of choral music activities at East Carolina University, is Artistic Director of the Greenville Choral Society. For more information on the choral society and tickets to performances, call 252/353-5495, or visit http://www.greenvillechoralsociety.com/.
