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Cantorei to perform its home concert Monday

By Sarah Meyer '08
April 3, 2008

The St. Olaf Cantorei will perform its home concert on Monday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. The performance is free, open to the public, and will be streamed live online.

The concert will mark Cantorei's return from a weekend tour to Chicago. "We are excited for the opportunity to apply what we've learned this year into a single worship event," choir member Frieda von Qualen '08 says. "The Home Concert should provide an occasion for attendees to reflect on the season of Lent and the joy that Easter promises."

John Ferguson, the Elliot and Klara Stockdal Johnson Professor of Organ Music, is the director of Cantorei. The evening's program will open with two arrangements of "Let all Mortal Flesh Keep Silence." "The service is about praising God for God's power and majesty," says choir member Martha Schwehn '08. "We witness God's power in the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection is such an incredible act, and we stand silent before it -- with fear and trembling, as the text of 'Let All Mortal Flesh' goes -- because it is so awesome, beyond anything mortal."

Attendees will join the choir in singing the old hymn favorites "Lord, Speak to Us, That We May Speak" and "Were You There?" New hymns and new arrangements will also provide occasions for reflection. "We're singing a new piece by Dr. Ferguson titled 'Hymn to the Spirit,'" Schwehn says. "The piece is about inviting the reviving presence of the spirit into our lives. It begins 'O Holy Spirit fount of grace, enlivener of time and space, since life began so long ago, mercy has never ceased to flow.' Even though the resurrection is God's most glorious act, we also recognize that it is part of the continuous work of God throughout the ages, work that is gracious and merciful toward humankind."

Cantorei
Cantorei was established in the 1960s as the Campus Choir. In 1986, the choir assumed its present name, which comes from the German word for choir, Kantorei. Like its historic prototype, the 105-voice ensemble is a relatively complete musical organization of instrumentalists and singers. It has become known for creative programming that blends the St. Olaf choral tradition with instrumental color, uniquely honed and focused to lead worship and provide a distinctive musical and spiritual experience. Ferguson has conducted Cantorei since his appointment to the St. Olaf faculty in 1983.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.