This preview has been provided by the Asheville Choral Society.
Artistic Director Dr. Melodie Galloway and the Asheville Choral Society will perform “A Life in Song” in honor of founding Director Dr. Bob Keener on Saturday, February 28th at 4:00 p.m. [The performance] will be at Central United Methodist Church in downtown Asheville. “I’ve always appreciated Dr. Keener’s thoroughness, his thoughtfulness, and his incredible musicianship,” says Dr. Melodie Galloway. “Bringing out the beauty in the choral voices has always been his craft. I’ve always admired that about him.”
Dr. Keener founded the Asheville Choral Society in 1977. He directed the chorus for 23 years while on the faculty of Warren Wilson College. “A Life in Song” celebrates the life and spirit of this wonderful conductor and the rich legacy he has created. “Dr. Bob Keener has made such an impact on music in the city of Asheville,” Dr. Galloway explains. “When he first started the Asheville Choral Society it really was something new. There was not a community chorus, certainly not a professional community chorus, in Asheville so he really gave us a gift.”
Because Dr. Keener worked diligently to start a “new thing” in Asheville, Dr. Galloway has matched his selections with contemporary works of beauty and expression. Our tribute to Dr. Keener shines through in the music of J. S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Jerome Kern, and in the stunning Serenade to Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Dr. Galloway has specifically chosen Pater Noster, by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, for its composition of minimalist textures and Romantic sonorities. Written for chorus and strings, the piece’s sustained harmonies are a perfect representation of the lasting affect Dr. Keener has had on the Asheville Choral Society.
Tickets for “A Life in Song” can be purchased on the Asheville Choral Society website at www.ashevillechoralsociety.org or by calling (828) 232-2060. They are $25 for adults and $10 for students.
This is the second concert in the 38th season of the Asheville Choral Society, which concludes with “Stage and Screen: Music of Struggle and Triumph” on May 1-2 at First Presbyterian Church, in downtown Asheville.
