ROCK ISLAND, IL (01/28/2011)(readMedia)-- From Feb. 18-25 the Augustana Choir will perform a variety of choral music in eight concerts throughout Illinois and northern Missouri. They will end with a ninth "home" concert on March 11 in Davenport, Iowa, for the Quad-City community.
The choir will begin its Homeland Tour in Galesburg, Ill., and then travel to Springfield, Ill.; Chesterfield, Mo.; Decatur, Ill.; Bloomington, Ill.; Naperville, Ill.; St. Charles, Ill.; Rockford, Ill.; and Davenport, Iowa.
Augustana Choir members from your area include :
Kaleigh Wall from Eldridge, Iowa, a sophomore at Augustana majoring in music.
Kjerstin Hurty from Moline, Ill., a sophomore at Augustana majoring in business and music.
Martha Ade from Moline, Ill., a junior at Augustana majoring in music and English.
Lauren Reid from Sherrard, Ill., a junior at Augustana majoring in business and communications.
Anita Cook from Davenport, Ill., a senior at Augustana majoring in studio art.
Calvin Vo from Moline, Ill., a sophomore at Augustana majoring in English and theatre.
Ricky Rector from Davenport, Iowa, a sophomore at Augustana majoring in communication sciences and disorders.
In honor of the 150th anniversary of Augustana College, the Homeland Tour takes the choir along the Mississippi and across the state of Illinois to recognize the college's relationship with its geographic home. Featured American composers are Eric William Barnum, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Stephen Paulus and Robert H. Young. The program also includes works by renowned 20th century international composers Damijan Mocnik, Krzysztof Penderecki and Carl Orff. This rich, eclectic program incorporates works that elicit the idea of community and home.
In addition, the tour program reflects some of the recent performance invitations the choir has received. Selections from Orff's Carmina Burana appear on the program because the Augustana Choir, under Dr. Jon Hurty's direction, has been asked to perform the work at New York's Carnegie Hall this May. Spirituals by composer/arranger Stacey Gibbs close the program. Gibbs asked the choir to record the selections on an upcoming CD of his works.
Hurty feels that tours offer "an opportunity to share the choral program and the talents of our students with an even broader community." Founded in 1931, the Augustana Choir, which tours both domestically and internationally, has performed in some of the world's most treasured places from New York's Alice Tully Hall to the grand Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden and the Great Wall of China.
Touring often is a highlight of a student's college experience. "Tour has been my favorite part of my four years at college," said senior Ryan Shershen. "It takes the cake over classes, parties, other organizations, etc. I have loved the traveling that we have done from Sweden to our nation's capitol. We sound great at every concert, and the best part is that we improve so much as a choir over tour...it is amazing to hear the difference between the home concert after tour and the fall concert at the beginning of the year."
The dates and locations for the Augustana Choir tour are as follows:
Feb. 18-First Lutheran Church, Galesburg, Ill.
Feb. 19-St. John's Lutheran Church, Springfield, Ill.
Feb. 20-Trinity Lutheran Church, Chesterfield, Mo.
Feb. 21-Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Decatur, Ill.
Feb. 22-St. John's Lutheran Church, Bloomington, Ill.
Feb. 23-Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Naperville, Ill.
Feb. 24-Bethlehem Lutheran Church, St. Charles, Ill.
Feb. 25-First Lutheran Church, Rockford, Ill.
March 11-St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa
About Augustana: Founded in 1860 and situated on a 115-acre campus near the Mississippi River, Augustana College is a private, liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college enrolls 2,500 students from diverse geographic, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds and offers more than 70 majors and related areas of study. Augustana employs 287 faculty members and has a student-faculty ratio of 11:1. Augustana continues to do what it has always done: challenge and prepare students for lives of leadership and service in our complex, ever-changing world.
