Spring Choral Concert Features North American Works

“A Celebration of North American Choral Music” will be presented by the Westmont College Choir, Chamber Singers and Vox Lumina Women’s Chorale 8 p.m. April 11 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St. in Santa Barbara. Admission is free; however a donation for the music program will be requested.

The annual event will feature the College Choir, directed by Steve Hodson. The choir will sing North American choral works by Canadian composers Stephen Chatman and Donald Patriquin and by Americans William Billings, Charles Ives, Morten Lauridson, Eric Whitacre, and Mack Wilberg. Student conductors also will be featured.

The Chamber Singers, directed by Grey Brothers, will pay homage to the European masters with works by Josquin des Prez and William Byrd. They also will focus on recent works by North American composers, including a “Kyrie” by Canadian composer Healy Willan, a premier of “Vultum tuum,” a liturgical setting by Santa Barbara musicologist and composer Alejandro Planchart, and three arrangements of African-American spiritualists.

The Vox Lumina Women’s Chorale, directed by Marilee Mouser, will offer selections by the contemporary women composers Gwyneth Walker and Eleanor Daley, as well as classics by American composers Howard Hanson, Houston Bright, James McCray and William L. Dawson.

For more information, contact the music department at (805) 565-7040, or the public affairs office at (805) 565-7057, or e-mail pubaffairs@westmont.edu.