The MSU Concert Choir is the premier choral organization at Murray State
University and enjoys an international reputation for excellence in choral
music. Under the baton of Director of Choral Activities Dr. Bradley L.
Almquist, the choir has sung invitational performances for the Kentucky Music
Educators Association (1997, 2004); the Kentucky Choral Directors Association
(1994,2000); the Southern Division Convention of the Music Educators National
Conference (1997); the National Convention of the Music Educators National
Conference (2002) and the Southern Division of the American Choral Directors
Association (2002). They have toured England, Scotland and Wales (1995);
Germany Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary (1998); Italy (2001); and
Ireland, Wales and England (2004).
Dedicated to the study and performance of choral masterworks of all musical
epochs the choir frequently appears with regional orchestras performing major
choral/orchestral repertory including Brahms Requiem (2001), Walton's Belshazzar's
Feast (2002), Beethoven's Mass in C Major (2003), and Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony (2004). In addition to standard repertory, the choir regularly
commissions and/or premieres new music including Requiem da Camera (1996),
Ave Maria, O Autrix Vitae (1998), and The Lamb (1999) from
Buffalo composer Roland Martin; Charm Me Asleep: To Music (1998) by
James Mulholland; Six Shakespearean Madrigals (1997) and Jubilate Deo
by Joseph Baber (2003); and Veni, Sancte Spiritus by William Averitt
(2001). During the biannual Athena Festival,
celebrating music by women composers, a choral composition competition offers
the choir another opportunity to perform and/or premiere new music. In 2001 the
Concert Choir performed "Antiphon for a Virgin" by Tina Davidson; "Three Songs
of Poems by Frederico Garcia Lorca" by Dina Smorgonskaya; and "Three e. e.
cummings Poems" by Kristi McGarity. In 2003, the choir premiered "Sonnets
Vanity, Loss and Rapture" by Stacy Garrop and "Shakespeare Suite" by Nancy
Wertsch.
The Concert Choir is selected each fall by auditions and includes students from
all of the academic colleges on campus. They regularly appear in concert on
campus and frequently off campus fulfilling the university's responsibility of
enhancing the cultural milieu of the entire region.
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