Nebraska Wesleyan University’s award-winning University Choir has announced a tour schedule that will take it across the Midwest in January.
The choir tour begins January 8 and will conclude with a final performance at O’Donnell Auditorium on the Nebraska Wesleyan University campus on January 19. The tour includes performances in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
The 90-minute program will include music by composers Carrillo, Argento, Clausen, and Craig Hella Johnson, J.S. Bach’s “Motet No. 6: Lobet den Herrn,” and Paul Basler’s “Portones abiertos y rostros brillantes.” They will also perform Iowa composer Ben Allaway’s piece “The Worlds Above,” which was commissioned and premiered by the choir, as well as Lincoln composer Tom Trenney’s “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The program’s most unusual composition will be “Zayadana” from a set of three-tone chants written by Canadian composer Sid Robinovitch.
The choir will conclude with its signature piece, Sir Malcolm Sargent’s “Silent Night,” which has been performed for 38 consecutive choir tours.
The Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir is a select 48-voice ensemble. Since 1977, the choir has undertaken eight foreign concert tours and two choral residencies in Hawaii in addition to annual concert tours throughout the United States.
The choir was one of six vocal ensembles selected to perform at the Nebraska Music Educators Convention in November. They will collaborate with Abendmusik-Lincoln in a performance of Dvorak’s “Stabat Mater,” and will conclude their year with two performances of Stephen Paulus’ “To Be Certain of the Dawn” in Lincoln and in New York City where they will premier the piece at Carnegie Music Hall.
The choir has performed with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, and was the first collegiate choir from Nebraska selected to perform at the American Choral Directors Association National Convention. They have also appeared as the featured collegiate ensemble at the Nebraska Music Educators Association Convention.
They were the first American choir to perform in universities and conservatories in Romania and the first American choir invited to participate in the St. Peterburg, Russia International Choral Festival.
The choir is under the direction of William A. Wyman who is in his 39th year at Nebraska Wesleyan. He has served as a clinician or guest conductor throughout the country. His honors include the Nebraska Choral Directors Association’s “Outstanding Choral Director of the Year,” a Fulbright Scholar appointment at Seoul National University in Korea, and induction into the Nebraska Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. He has conducted performances at Carnegie Hall twice in recent years, and last year he received the Nebraska Choral Director’s Association highest honor — the Cornell Runestad Award, which honors professionals’ commitment to their singers and artistry.
The following is the choir’s tour schedule:
Wednesday, Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m.
Broadway United Methodist Church, 11 South First Street, Council Bluffs, Iowa, free-will offering.
Thursday, Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m.
First Christian Church, 2500 University, Des Moines, Iowa, free-will offering.
Friday, Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m.
Libertyville United Methodist Church, 429 Brainerd Ave., Libertyville, Ill., free-will offering.
Saturday, Jan. 11, 7 p.m.
Saint Paul Episcopal Church, 914 East Knapp Street, Milwaukee, Wis., free-will offering.
Sunday, Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m.
Saint John’s Lutheran Church, 20275 Davidson Road, Brookfield, Wis., free-will offering.
Tuesday, Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m.
Christ Church Cathedral, 510 South Farwell Street, Eau Claire, Wis., free-will offering.
Wednesday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m.
First Lutheran Church, 1114 West Traverse Road, Saint Peter, Minn., free-will offering.
Thursday, Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m.
First Congregational Church, 500 South Minnesota Ave., Sioux Falls, S.D., free-will offering.
Friday, Jan. 17, 7 p.m.
First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass Street, Omaha, Neb., free-will offering.
Sunday, Jan. 19, 9 & 10:30 a.m.
First Plymouth Congregational Church, 2000 D Street, Lincoln, Neb., love offering.
Sunday, Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m.
NWU Home Concert, O’Donnell Auditorium, 50th Street & Huntington Ave., free.