The Knox College Choir is going worldwide — performing
selections in eight languages at its Fall Concert at 3 p.m., Sunday,
November 5, in Kresge Recital Hall, Ford Center for the Fine Arts, on
the Knox campus in Galesburg, Illinois.
The concert is free and open to the public.
“The Knox College Choir is always committed to exploring many
languages and cultures; we’re just going a bit farther this fall,”
said Choir Director Laura Lane, professor of music.
The program includes a Sufi song in Arabic; a song from Kenya sung in
Swahili; a song from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire,” sung in Hindi; a
work by Finnish composer Jussi Chydenius; a selection by Bach, sung in
German; a song by composer Barbara Strozzi, sung in Italian; a song by
Pablo Casals, sung in Latin; and “Al Shlosha D’varim,” by Allan
Naplan, sung in Hebrew.
Among the selections in English is the world premiere of “Friendship,”
commissioned by the Choir from Bruce Polay, professor of music at Knox
and conductor/artistic director of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony. “I am
so excited to be giving the world premiere of this beautiful new piece
by my dear friend and colleague, Bruce Polay!” Lane said. “This week
in rehearsal, the students sang ‘Friendship’ for Bruce for the first
time, and he was very pleased with our interpretation. His suggestions
helped us bring the work to life in a more meaningful way.”
Lane said the rehearsal process focused on details of the languages
represented in the concert.
“I speak a few words of Swahili, but I met with some people who are
from Kenya, to get the accent right and to learn more about the
beautiful Kenyan song,” Lane said. “Choir president Lara Braverman
speaks Hebrew. No one in the choir is a native speaker of Arabic, but
I learned it from the composer. I speak German and many in the choir
have studied Latin, German and Spanish. ‘Jai Ho,’ from ‘Slumdog
Millionaire’ has both Spanish and Hindi, and one of the choir members,
Shubham Moitra, helped with Hindi pronunciations.”
The Knox College Choir has performed throughout the United States and
in several European countries. The Choir’s latest CD, drawn from
selections performed on their tour of France earlier this year, has
just been released and will be available for sale at the concert.
Founded in 1837, Knox College is a national liberal arts college in
Galesburg, Illinois. Knox enrolls students from 48 states and U.S.
territories and 51 countries. Knox’s “Old Main” is a National Historic
Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas
debates.
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Office of Communications
Knox College
309 341 7337
