Knox College Choir Spain Tour

The Knox College Choir is on a 10-day concert tour of Catalonia in Spain during Knox's spring break in March. The 60-member choir, directed by Laura Lane, professor of music, will perform four concerts -- two in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia; and two outside of Barcelona.

In advance of the tour, the choir will give a preview concert at 3 p.m., Sunday, March 9, in First Lutheran Church in Galesburg. And on its return, the choir will perform at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 28, in Kresge Hall on the Knox campus in Galesburg. Both Galesburg concerts are free and open to the public.

The choir leaves for Spain on March 16 and returns on March 26.

In Barcelona, the choir will perform in the Ateneo Theatre and the Collegi de Metges (Medical College). They also will perform in the Benedictine monastery at Montserrat, and in the cathedral at Castello D?Empuries.

The choir will perform a wide variety of works, including contemporary American love songs in Spanish and English, settings of Shakespeare by Finnish composer Mantyjarvi, a Cuban rumba, vocal jazz tunes arranged by Darmon Meader and Anders Edenroth, and an American spiritual arranged by Moses Hogan.

The Choir will also sing one selection in Catalan, the native language of Catalonia, an autonomous region on the Mediterranean coast in Northeast Spain.

"Both the locations and audiences in Catalonia are just outstanding," Lane said. "The acoustics are perfect, and the people are unbelievably enthusiastic -- especially when we sing works in Catalan."

In recent years, the choir performed in Spain in 2003 and again in 2006. Knox has operated a study-abroad program for more than 30 years at the University of Barcelona.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 45 states and 44 nations. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Knox College Choir
Laura Lane, Director
Concert Tour of Catalonia, Spain
March 2008

Itinerary

Sun, March 9 ~ 3:00 pm, First Lutheran Church, Galesburg, Illinois
Tues, March 18 ~ 6:00 pm, Collegi de Metges, Barcelona
Wed, March 19 ~ 7:30 pm, Ateneo, Barcelona
Fri, March 21 ~ 1:00 pm, Monasterio del Montserrat
Sun, March 23 ~ 5:00pm, Cathedral of Castello D?Empuries
Fri, March 28 ~ 7:30pm Home Tour Concert, Kresge Hall, Knox College

Tour Program

Knox College Choir:
Chantez ? Dieu, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
Vere Languores Nostros, Tom?s Luis de Victoria (1549-1611)
Spas?niye sod?lal, Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944)
Sanctus, from Requiem, Zdenek Luk?s (b.1968)
O sacrum convivium, Vytautas Miskinis

Knox Chamber Singers:
Dar? la notte, Claudio Monteverdi
The Evening Primrose, Benjamin Britten
Marsh Flowers, Britten
Te Quiero, Alberto Favero, arr. Liliana Cangiano
I?ll Be Seeing You, Fain & Kahal, arr. Darmon Meader
Chili Con Carne, Anders Edenroth

Knox College Choir:
Come Away, Death, Jaakko M?ntyj?rvi (b. 1963)
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, M?ntyj?rvi
Amor de mi alma, Z. Randall Stroope

Knox College Choir:
L?Emporda, traditional Catalan song, arr. Enric Morera (1855-1942)
El Guayaboso, GuidoLopez-Gavilan
Tres Cantos Nativos dos Indios Krao, arr. Marcos Leite
Sarba pe scaun, Romanian dance song, arr. Pascanu
Abide with Me, arr. Moses Hogan
Lord, if I got my Ticket, arr. Stacey Gibbs

Tour Participants, March 2008

 
Eric Feltes talks about his experience with the Knox Choir tour of Barcelona.

Eric continues his narrative of traveling to Barcelona and performing with the Knox Choir.