(Posted March 12, 2007)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Internationally flavored songs from areas spanning the globe from Hungary to Haiti to well, Huntingdon, will be on the program for the Juniata College Concert Choir concert at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 17 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus. The concert is free and open to the public. The choir is conducted by Russell Shelley, Elma Stine Heckler Associate Professor of Music. Shelley also created arrangements for several of the choir\'s selections. The choir is celebrating its homecoming from its annual spring break trip. This year the ensemble traveled to Trinidad for a series of concerts in cities throughout the Caribbean country. The concert will open with an adventurous selection of international songs, starting with \"Jubilate Deo,\" by Hungarian composer Lazlo Halmos; \"Cantante Domino,\" by Lithuanian composer Vytautas Miskinis; \"Gloria in Excelsis Deo!,\" by Huntingdon, Pa. native Jackson Berkey; and \"Noel Ayisyen,\" by Haitian composer Emile Desamours. The concert will then transition to \"Amor De Mi Alma,\" by Z. Randall Stroope; \"Lord, Thou Hast Searched Me,\" arranged by Reginald Unterseher; and \"Lux Aurumque,\" by Eric Whitacre. The second half of the concert starts off with \"Shenandoah,\" arranged by Alf Houkam; \"Nelly Bly,\" arranged by Jack Halloran; \"Ja vem a Primavera,\" by Brazilian composer Henrique de Curitiba; and \"Jamaican Our Father,\" by Trinidadian composer Desmond Waithe. The choir will end the concert with selections such as \"My Good Lord\'s Done Been Here,\" arranged by Lee Cloud; \"Rockin\' Jerusalem,\" by Andre Thomas; \"Wana Baraka,\" arranged by Shawn Kirchner; \"Wade in the Water,\" arranged by Allen Koepke; and \"Set Me as a Seal,\" arranged by Russell Shelley. The concert choir is comprised of 51 students from Juniata College. Choir members must go through an audition process to join the group. Recordings by the Juniata choir are available after the performance. Proceeds from the sales of the group\'s recordings are directed toward an endowed fund for the choir. Each spring, the choir tours within the United States or in other countries. In past years, the choir has performed at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Salzburg Cathedral in Austria; Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, Germany; the Cathedral de Notre Dame Chartres in France; and in Teotihuacan, Tepozlan and Taxco, Mexico.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.