Salisbury Chorale Performs Sunday, November 5

SALISBURY, MD---A state-of-the-art Johannus Organ on loan to Salisbury University will accompany Salisbury Chorale singers during the annual fall concert, which features works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Zoltán Kodály. Played by Susan Zimmer of the Department of Music, the organ, an American Classic-V with three keyboards and 90 pipes represented digitally, is owned by Chuck Nelsen of Nelsen Organ Works in Wayne, Pa.

The 37-member chorale, of community members and University faculty, staff and students, performs 4:30 p.m. Sunday, November 5, in Holloway Hall Auditorium.

The chorale sings Bach’s Magnificat, a 12-movement Marian song of praise from the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. “It is a major choral work performed around the world, especially near the Christmas and holiday season,” said Dr. William Folger, conductor and director of choral activities at the University.

The Missa Brevis by Hungarian composer, music educator and linguist Zoltán Kodály, is also performed. “It is a wonderful sonorous gem setting of the ancient Mass text,” Folger said. He added that Kodály helped restructure music education in Hungary and his methods are used in music classes worldwide.

The chorale is accompanied Zimmer and members of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra. Featured soloists are sopranos June Barlage and Debra Clark, on staff at the Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies; altos Lynda Hinton, Nancy Coleman Mace and Cara Rozaieski; tenors Alan Selser and Edgar Isaacs, a music announcer for WSCL-FM; and basses John Allen and William A.V. Willis, a student at the University.

For more than 30 years, singers have performed in Holloway Hall Auditorium and in local churches as part of the chorale, which was started as the Salisbury Choral Society by Dr. Ray H. Zeigler, a former faculty member in the Department of Music.

Sponsored by the SU’s Department of Music, the performance is free, but a $5 donation is requested. The public is invited. For information about Nelsen Organ Works call 610-783-7039 or email nelsenorganworks@comcast.net. For inquiries about the Salisbury Chorale call Dr. Folger at 410-543-6386 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.