UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Concert Choir will present its fall concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 29, in the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center's Worship Hall. The choir will be joined by the State College Area High School Mastersingers and guest organist and alumni fellow William Neil, 1966 a graduate of Penn State.
Each choir will perform a set of compositions individually to begin the program, and then will combine in a performance of "Requiem" by French composer Maurice Duruflé, accompanied by organ. The Concert Choir is conducted by Penn State director of choral activities Christopher Kiver. Erik Clayton is conductor of the State College Area High School Mastersingers.
General admission tickets are $4.99, student tickets are $2. No advance ticket purchase is available. Ticket sales begin 45 minutes prior to the concert in the lobby. Cash only. This concert is available on livestream at the Penn State School of Music.
State College Area High School Mastersingers
Jubilate Deo - Giovanni Gabrieli
Somewhere (from "West Side Story") - Leonard Bernstein, arranged by Robert Edgerton
Unclouded Day - J. K. Alwood, arranged by Shawn Kirchner
Penn State Concert Choir
Exsultate - Brian Edward Galante
Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229 - Johann Sebastian Bach
-Komm, Jesu, komm
-Drum schließ ich mich in deine Hände und sage, Welt, guter Nacht!
The Little Stream Sings - Andrew Maxfield
Pal-So-Seong (8 Laughing Voices) - Hyo-Won Woo
Combined Choirs, with William Neil
Requiem - Maurice Duruflé
-Introit (Requiem Aeternam)
-Kyrie eleison
-Offertory (Domine Jesu Christe)
-Sanctus and Benedictus
-Pie Jesu
-Agnus Dei
-Communion (Lux aeterna)
-Libera me
-In Paradisum
The Penn State University Concert Choir has undertaken numerous overseas tours to countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Great Britain, Canada and Australia. Performances throughout the United States have included appearances at premier venues including Heinz Hall (Pittsburgh), the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia) and the Music Center at Strathmore (Maryland). Recent highlights have included collaborations with the Bang on a Can All-Stars performing Julia Wolfe's Pulitzer Prize winning composition "Anthracite Fields" in 2017, and the Rolling Stones at Heinz Field, Pittsburgh in 2015. The Concert Choir has performed at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. Performing music from the Renaissance through to the present in its regularly-scheduled campus concerts, recent performances of major choral works have included Gustav Mahler’s "Symphony No. 2 in C Minor" (“Resurrection”), "Ein deutsches Requiem" by Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven’s "Symphony No. 9 in D Minor," the Verdi "Requiem," Leonard Bernstein's "Mass," the Poulenc "Gloria" and Mozart's "Mass in C Minor, K. 427" ("Grand Mass"). The Concert Choir is conducted by Christopher Kiver. Enrollment is by audition.
Appointed as director of choirs at State College Area High School in 2015, Erik Clayton received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Penn State. During his time at Penn State he studied conducting with Lynn Drafall, Christopher Kiver and Maestro Gerardo Edelstein. From 2008-2012, Clayton was co-director of choirs at Williamsport Area High School, and organist and choir director at Trinity Episcopal Church, Williamsport. From 2011-2012, he served as artistic director and conductor of the Williamsport Chamber Choir and Orchestra, and appeared as a guest conductor with the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra. From 2012-2015, he served as director of choirs at Central Dauphin High School. He resides in State College with his wife and four children.
William Neil (Penn State Alumni Fellow, class of 1966) is organist of The National Presbyterian Church, and organist and harpsichordist of the National Symphony Orchestra and National Philharmonic. From 1998 to 2000, he was organist of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago. He has been a soloist with the National Symphony under the batons of Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Alessandro Siciliani, Christopher Hogwood, Iona Brown and Lorin Maazel.
Neil’s extensive discography includes recordings on the Philips, Sony, Naxos, and MSR Classics labels. He is also active as a harpsichordist and continuo player with period and modern instrumental ensembles, performing music of the 18th to 21st centuries. He has performed with the Choral Arts Society of Washington at the Kennedy Center and Strathmore Center, the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, the Washington Chorus, the City Choir of Washington, and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, with conductors Norman Scribner, Tom Hall, Julian Wachner, Robert Shafer, Thomas Wickman, Gerard Schwarz, Margaret Hillis, Helmut Rilling and Robert Shaw.
Neil’s concerts with the New York Trumpet Ensemble, Chicago’s Millar Brass, and Washington Symphonic Brass, appearances at national and international brass festivals, and recordings and performances with trumpeters David Bilger, Steven Hendrickson, Don Smithers and Pierre Thibaud have earned him the reputation among brass musicians as “the trumpeters’ organist.” Neil was the first Washington organist to perform on the Charles Fisk Organ at Meyerson Hall in Dallas. In 2006, he joined members of the Philadelphia Orchestra as featured soloist in a dedication concert of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ in Verizon Hall of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. In 2001, he was featured soloist in the inaugural concerts of the Casavant Organ at Robert Jacoby Hall with the Jacksonville Symphony.
Neil’s recent MSR Classics CD, "A Festive Proclamation," featuring premieres by Samuel Adler and Eric Ewazen, was chosen by Gramophone magazine as one of the 10 best classical recordings of 2005. He is a graduate of Penn State and Syracuse University. His teachers have included Leonard Raver, Arthur Poister, Will Headlee and Anthony Newman. Neil has been a member of the faculties at George Mason University and the Catholic University of America. Many of his former students now hold prominent positions in the U.S. and around the world.