Cal Lutheran Choir kicks off spring tour

Eclectic concerts slated throughout Midwest, at home

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The Choir is the premier choral ensemble at Cal Lutheran. 

Photo: Brian Stethem

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Feb. 24, 2017) The California Lutheran University Choir will take its annual Spring Choral Concert to three Midwestern states before a final performance at home.

The tour kicks off at 8 p.m. March 18 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Evanston, Illinois. Performances will follow at 7 p.m. March 19 at Ascension Lutheran Church in Milwaukee; 7 p.m. March 20 at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin; 7:30 p.m. March 21 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Princeton, Minnesota; 7 p.m. March 22 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Owatonna, Minnesota; and 7 p.m. March 23 at United Lutheran Church in Red Wing, Minnesota. Cal Lutheran will host a reception following the last Midwest performance at 7:30 p.m. March 24 at Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park. The Women’s Chorale will join the Choir for the final concert at 7:30 p.m. March 28 in Samuelson Chapel on Cal Lutheran’s Thousand Oaks campus.

The choir will premiere “a girl” by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. Based on an anonymous Yiddish text, he wrote the composition in honor of the 90th birthday of Clara Knopfler, a Holocaust survivor from Thousand Oaks. Cal Lutheran’s Clara Knopfler Jewish Leadership Scholarship was named in honor of her contributions to Jewish life on campus and peace among all people.

Included in the eclectic program is “Statements,” a unique a cappella work composed for women’s voices by the Danish modernist minimalist composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, who died in 2016. The Kingsmen and Regals Quartets will sing close harmony a cappella arrangements. Several vocalists double as instrumentalists accompanying the choir on violin, trumpet and percussion. The major work on the program is “Gloria” by French composer Francis Poulenc.

Wyant Morton, director of choral activities at Cal Lutheran, will conduct.

The Choir is the premier choral ensemble at Cal Lutheran. Previous tours have taken the group to Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway and England. It has also performed in Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City. While dedicated to performing works that represent the university’s Lutheran heritage, it also embraces innovative new music and pieces expressing multicultural perspectives.

St. Paul’s is at 1004 Greenwood St.; Ascension Lutheran is at 1236 S. Layton Blvd.; Bethel Lutheran is at 312 Wisconsin Ave.; Trinity Lutheran in Princeton is at 111 N. Sixth Ave.; Trinity Lutheran in Owatonna is at 609 Lincoln Ave.; United Lutheran is at 628 W. Fifth St.; Westwood Lutheran is at 9001 Cedar Lake Road; and Samuelson Chapel is located at 165 Chapel Lane. 

Donations will be accepted. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit CalLutheran.edu.

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