Big Island Singers has announced its upcoming spring concert series, “Flora-n-Fauna: 500 Years of Songs about Nature.”
From 16th century composers Josquin des Prez and Thomas Morley, to contemporary pieces by Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre and John Rutter, these concerts are a can’t miss for choral music fans.
All concerts are free with donations welcomed. Concert times and locations are:
— 7 p.m. Friday at Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles, 1407 Kapiolani St., Hilo;
— 4 p.m. Saturday at First United Protestant Church of Hilo, 1350 Waianuenue Ave., Hilo;
— 4 p.m. Sunday at Hilo Coast United Church of Christ, 28-1630 Old Mamalahoa Hwy, Honomu.
Formed in fall ’22 for a post-pandemic Christmas celebration concert, Big Island Singers has presented a series of weekend concerts every spring and fall since. The membership of 30 to 35 people is made up of experienced choral people who are willing to commit to the rigorous 12-week rehearsal schedule.
Singers come from diverse backgrounds and range in age from their 20s to 80s. All share a common love of working hard and singing in harmony. Auditions are by appointment.
“I’ve always been interested in preparing a program that lightly surveys choral music from the Renaissance to modern times,” Director Doug Albertson said about “Flora-n-Fauna.” “Finding choral literature about nature was easy; trying to pull something together representing each of the main historical styles was not.”
In one piece for the choir, Ben and Sherie McMillan, Kevin Lewis and Muftiah Martin make up the featured quartet in Handel’s “O the Pleasure of the Plains,” with Teresa Mondoy handling the solo parts.
For Ben McMillan, it’s his favorite piece of the concert, while Martin favors the madrigals, like Morley’s “The Fields Abound.”
Lewis enjoys Gustav Holst’s version of the folk song, “There Was a Tree,” for the “haunting melody that twists and turns between the parts, yet comes together.”
Sherie McMillan and Mondoy both love the Lauridsen pieces, which are two of four songs in the concert set to the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke.
The concert also features the piano work of Doug Howell who, among his other accompaniment duties, joins bass Jim Thompson in a solo of the American jazz standard, “Willow Weep for Me,” written by Ann Ronell.
Also on the program, alto Laural Bragg will perform an original solo entitled “Ancestors,” which reflects on “how aspects of nature commune with us. The chorus … focuses on the necessity of love to save the planet.”
For more, visit www.bigislandsingers.org.
