E. Carl Freeman Concert Series at River Road Church
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
8:00 p.m., Sanctuary
The program entitled “Alleluia” and spanning more than three hundred years of choral music will feature works from England, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Russia, and the United States by Buxtehude, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, Chesnokov, Skulte, Gjeilo, Poston, Randall Thompson, Copland, Whitacre, as well as African American spirituals arranged by Dawson and Belfield.
The Choir
Celebrating 96 years since its founding, the Choir of the College of William & Mary continues to appear regularly both in the United States and abroad. The Choir has had the honor of performing twice for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II—most recently in 2007—and was one of four choirs invited to perform in concert with the United States Marine Band at the 1997 Presidential Inaugural on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. In February 2012, the Choir sang for the investiture of former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as William and Mary’s new chancellor; and they sang for his re-investiture in February 2019. The Choir has toured internationally every third year since 1978, having toured most recently to South Africa in May of 2017. Recent tours have taken the Choir to Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Spain, Morocco, Greece and Turkey. The Choir has released four recordings: Joseph Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, and a recording featuring Bach’s motet Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227), and the premier performance of Adolphus Hailstork’s Triumph in My Song (2001). These recordings are available for purchase through the Choir’s website.
The Conductor
James Armstrong, Jr., Director of Choirs and Associate Professor of Music, received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he studied conducting and voice with Robert Fountain. Before coming to the College of William and Mary, Professor Armstrong held faculty appointments at Mount Holyoke College, Vassar College, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests range from eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Central European sacred music to historically-informed performance and the African American spiritual. At present he is compiling a thematic catalog of the complete Esterházy sacred music collection, which is housed today partly in Eisenstadt, Austria and partly in Budapest, Hungary. Recent publications include a seminal article on music at the court of Nicolaus II Esterházy, which appeared in connection with an exhibition in Compiègne, France devoted to Nicolaus as a patron of the arts in Europe; Professor Armstrong also contributed an article that appeared in the catalog of the international bicentennial exhibition in Eisenstadt, Austria commemorating the death of Joseph Haydn. Professor Armstrong is active as both a clinician and an adjudicator.
Photo Credit: Stephen Salpukas
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Free parking across River Road and behind the church
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Eventbrite allows you to reserve free tickets, which, though helpful for our event planning, is not required. You are always welcome to attend any concert. This procedure allows us to obtain email addresses of concert goers, which provides us with an additional way to keep in touch with music lovers who come to RRCB. However, the more tickets that are reserved, the more popular our event becomes and gets boosted to the community for free!
Housing for W&M Choristers
The William & Mary Choir will be closing their spring tour with a concert at River Road on Tuesday, March 19 at 8:00 pm. We still have openings for housing students the night of March 19. Please click here to fill out a form, or contact Roy Terry if you would be willing to host by Sunday, March 3. Please include number of students, gender preference, if any, your contact information, and if you have any pets. Thank you!