A Cappella Choir, Andover singers to perform

The Wichita State University A Cappella Choir and special guest choir, the Andover High School Madrigal Singers, will present “A KMEA Preview” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22, in Wiedemann Recital Hall.

The A Cappella Choir at WSU is directed by music professor Tom Wine, who said the choir is proud to be accepted to perform for the Kansas Music Educators Association (KMEA) state conference.

In the tradition of a KMEA concert, the choir is singing in four different languages. These include a 10-part Italian love song, “Io Son l Primavera,” a German double choir masterpiece of the Baroque era, “Singet dem Herrn” and a South African folk song using a Zulu text.

There is also a “fun” arrangement, Wine said, of “I’m a Train,” originally written for the King’s Singers. What the television show “Glee” has done for popular music of this generation, he said, the King’s Singers did for folk and popular songs 30 years ago.

Emphasizing the national standards for music education, the repertoire includes several selections with unique historical significance.

The Civil War ballad “The Vacant Chair” is a tribute to an 18-year-old who was killed in Virginia. The image of the vacant chair is familiar to Midwesterners who have visited the site of the bombed Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. This particular arrangement has two different countermelodies.

In the second verse, the women in the choir become the mothers, sisters and wives left behind in war singing to their soldier “Come Home.” Woven throughout the piece is the trumpet playing “Taps.”

In celebration of Black History Month, the concert closes with the Gospel piece “The Storm is Passing Over” by Charles Tindley. Tindley composed songs at the beginning of the 20th century using the chorus and refrain tradition of spirituals.

His 45 Gospel hymns include “I'll Overcome Someday,” whose chorus was changed to “We Shall Overcome” and became the anthem of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.

The Andover High School Madrigal Singers, Robert Schofer director, is preparing a program that is full of contemporary choral literature. Their program includes a rousing spiritual along with some vocal jazz. The group performs a rich tapestry of choral styles from a variety of musical genres.

This preview program will be repeated at the KMEA’s state convention on Friday morning, Feb. 26, at Century II.