New Times / Art

Sing on!

BY ANNA WELTNER

“If Music Be the Food of Love,” the Cal Poly Choirs’ Winter Concert, will celebrate the great marriage of love and music through the works of classical and contemporary composers. On Sunday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m., at Cal Poly’s Christopher Cohan Center, experience PolyPhonics, The University Singers, and several student soloists.

Conducted by Music Professor Thomas Davies, the concert will feature works by masters such as George Frederick Handel, Felix Mandelsohn, Claude Debussy, and Benjamin Britton, alongside acclaimed modern composers Morten Lauridsen, Imant Raminsh, David Dickau, and Stephen Chatman.

FROM THE HEART The Cal Poly Choirs belt out songs of love from classical and current composers. PHOTO COURTESY OF CAL POLY MUSIC DEPARTMENT

“In Commendation of Music” a new piece by Music Professor Meredith Brammeier after a poem by William Strode, will see its world premiere.

PolyPhonics, the university’s mixed chamber ensemble, will present Debussy’s “Trois Chansons,” three love poems by Charles D’Orleans set in a madrigal style. The group will also perform Britten’s “Hymn to St. Cecilia,” a worship song to the patron saint of music, and “If Music Be the Food of Love,” set to music by Jean Belmont-Ford.

The University Singers will present another version of that poem, this one set to music by Minnesota composer David Dackau. Medelsohn’s “Mailied,” or “Song of May,” Chatman’s “Music, When Soft Voices Die,” and Handel’s “Spread Thy Voice Around,” the chorus from his oratorio “Solomon,” will follow.

Music majors Olivia Tenney, Brittnet Zearfoss, Sarah Nulton, and Scott Nelson will perform solos, and Susan Azaret Davies and Paul Woodring will provide accompaniment.

Get tickets to this one-night-only event at the Performing Arts Ticket Office from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays, or phone SLO-ARTS (756-2787) to order by phone. Tickets are $8 for students, $12-14 for seniors, and $13-15 for everyone else. ∆