Choir performs Sunday ahead of Valley tour

By REBECCA MARTIN

Fresno State’s Concert Choir and Chamber Singers performed 19th century European love songs before the start of their annual Central Valley tour.

The performance, Love and Song in the Romantic Era, took place at the Fresno State Concert Hall, in front of hundreds of guests.

The concert, conducted by Anna Hamre, Fresno State director of choral activities, began with the Concert Choir singing “Liebeslieder,” by Brahms, also known as Brahms’ love songs.

The piece began with a female spoken part about faithful love, followed by the choir singing tenderly in German.

A male voice then performed a speaking piece about love, with choir members doing light-hearted motions flexing their muscles and causing laughter in the hall.

After the performance, the Chamber Singers, a smaller, more elite group, sang a piece titled “Aurora.” The song began with a piano melody and continued with haunting vocals.

In addition, the Chamber Singers sang a piece, slightly different than the previous two songs performed.

“This piece was originally an instrumental piece,” Hamre joked about the performance before the piece began. “We adapted it for choir. That’s why there are no words.”

The audience laughed and the piece, more up-tempo than the first two, began. The song included a percussionist-type member of the choir clapping his hands and stomping his feet.

Two solo performances by a Fresno State student and a Fresno State vocal instructor also drew applause and admiration from the audience.

The first half of the concert concluded with “Roman-ticero Gitano,” a piece featuring Fresno State guitarist David Schramm. Hamre said the guitar accompaniment, performed by the Fresno State guitar program, is an integral part of the piece.

The piece included spoken, dramatic interludes in Spanish and then English. It started slow and continually grew in intensity.

The Fresno Community Choir performed during the second half of the concert, with their first piece, “Festivel Te Deum,” featuring organist Catherine Walker, and accompanied by the choir.

Two different arrangements by Mendelssohn were also featured in the Fresno Community Choir performance.

The tour begins Monday in Selma and Kingsburg and ends in Porterville on Wednesday. Other cities visited on the tour include Bakersfield and Delano.