‘Choral Favorites:’ Sacred & Secular Music By The Genevans

“Choral Favorites” is the theme of a concert of sacred and secular choral music to be presented by The Genevans, the choir of Geneva College in western Pennsylvania, on Friday, March 9, at 7 pm. The concert will be performed at Newtown Bible Church, 35 Sugar Street. The concert is being co-hosted by Newtown Bible Church and Newtown’s Community Presbyterian Church.

Concert selections represent a variety of eras and styles. The principal work is J.S. Bach’s great motet “Jesu, meine Freude” (“Jesus, my joy”). Also included on the program are sacred and secular works, ranging from the Renaissance to the contemporary, including folk songs, spirituals, and hymns, Russian church music, and selections from Broadway musicals.

The Genevans always feature settings of the Book of Psalms prominently. Composers represented in the program include Tchaikovsky, Byrd, and Gesualdo, as well as Claude-Michel Schönberg, George Gershwin, and Moses Hogan.

The theme of the concert was chosen because the director, Dr Robert Copeland, will retire at the end of this school year, and many alumni made special requests for some of their favorite pieces.

Further variety will be added by performances of the Grace Notes and Eight Bells, small ensembles of women and men respectively.

In addition to many concerts in western Pennsylvania, The Genevans tour annually in some part of North America, and quadrennially in Europe.  Their most recent international tour, in 2010, took them to Ireland and the United Kingdom. Previous tours have taken them also to France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, and Cyprus, earning them plaudits and return invitations.

Geneva College was founded in 1848 and is among the oldest members of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. Choral groups from the college have toured for more than a century, and The Genevans have earned a reputation as one of the finest choirs among small liberal-arts colleges in America.  Geneva is located in Beaver Falls, Penn., in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.

Admission is free, and the public is cordially invited. A freewill offering will be received to defray expenses.

For additional information, contact Newtown Bible Church, 203-426-6484, or Newtown Community Presbyterian, 203-364-7041.