(Posted January 24, 2006)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The Juniata College Concert Choir will present its homecoming concert featuring classical repertoire, international ethnic selections and African American spirituals at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 4 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus.

The concert is free and open to the public. The choir is conducted by Russell Shelley, Elma Stine Heckler Associate Professor of Music.

The choir is performing its homecoming concert early this year, due to scheduling conflicts during the college's spring break. The ensemble performed nine concerts on a holiday break trip to Mexico from Jan. 2 to Jan. 15. The choir performed concerts at churches and other venues in such Mexican cities as Teotihuacan, Tepozlan, Taxco, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Cholula, Orizaba and La Antigua Veracruz.

The choir will sing a variety of choral arrangements for their program. The first half of the concert will feature such songs as "Cantemus!," by Lajos Bardos, "Exsultate Iusti In Domino," by Juan Gutierrez De Padilla, "Singet dem Herr nein Neues Lied," by Johann Pachelbel, and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's "Weihnachten Op. 79 No. 1" The program will continue with "Hodie Christus Natus Est," "Ubi Caritas," "Ave Verum" and "I My Best Beloved's Am."

The second half of the program will feature such songs as "Pseudo yoik," "Dare to Call It Good," and "Gloria." The choir will end its performance with several African-American spirituals, including "This Little Light of Mine," "My Lord What a Mornin'," "If I Got My Ticket" and "Let Me Fly." The final song will be "Set Me As a Seal," from "Vespers" by Rachmaninoff, arranged by Shelley.

The concert choir is comprised of 51 students from Juniata College. Choir members must go through an audition process to join the group. Recordings by the Juniata choir are available after the performance.

Each spring, the choir tours within the United States or in other countries. In past years, the choir has performed at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Salzburg Cathedral in Austria; Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, Germany; the Cathedral de Notre Dame Chartres in France; and Asuncion de Maria Cathedral in Tlaxcala, Mexico.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.