Spring concert to feature students, faculty, and Lynchburg community musicians

The Spring Concert in Houston Memorial Chapel in 2015

Randolph will hold its annual Spring Concert on Sunday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Houston Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public and will feature students in the College’s Chorale, Chamber Orchestra, as well as faculty and Lynchburg community members.

This year, the Court Street United Methodist Choir will join in the combined concert, and Chorale will perform an Irish folksong, a selection by Johannes Brahms, and a piece by Sam Pottle, composer of The Muppet Show theme. The Chamber Orchestra will present Aaron Copland’s challenging Three Latin American Sketches, and the combined groups will perform two major works: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Missa Brevis “Organ Solo,” K. 259, and Marc Antoine Charpentier’s Te Deum, one of the most famous choral-orchestral works from the French Baroque era.

One of the featured soloists in the concert is Carol Williams, an adjunct instructor in music and Randolph College organist. She will play the Holtcamp organ for the Mozart piece and harpsichord for the Charpentier piece. Both selections will also feature several student soloists.

“One of the greatest features of our music ensembles program here at Randolph is that we regularly present masterworks of choral-orchestral repertoire in their entirety, providing a depth of study that sets us apart from other small college music programs,” said Randall Speer, a Randolph music professor and director of Chorale and the Chamber Orchestra. “Additionally, the orchestra provides an opportunity for our student instrumentalists to perform alongside area professional musicians, presenting challenging works that are, again, not typically possible at colleges of our size.”