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Wartburg Choir to offer home concert April 14

Waverly, IA (04/09/2024) — The Wartburg Choir will perform a concert at 4 p.m. April 14 in the Wartburg Chapel.

Waverly-Shell Rock graduates Emma Nelson and Isaac Becker are members of the choir. Nelson, a senior elementary education major, is an alto. Becker, a sophomore music education major, is a tenor.

"This year's tour program is entitled 'Only in the Love, Only All of Us,' which comes from the text of 'All of Us' from Craig Hella Johnson's 'Considering Matthew Shepard.' This text is a profound meditation on themes of hope, compassion, resilience and unity," said Lee Nelson, the choir's director. "The words, written by poet Michael Dennis Browne, remind us that despite life's challenges, it is through love and collective solidarity that we find the strength to rise again and begin anew."

The choir will premiere three works on this year's tour through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska during the weeklong semester break at the end of April.

"Requiem Aeternam" was a gift from the composer, Reena Esmail, to Wartburg College's music tours, camps and promotions manager, Sarah Bouska, in memory of her husband Duane Bouska. "The Church's One Foundation" was arranged by Tom Trenney and commissioned by 1978 Wartburg graduate Greg Diercks and Jay Lenn in memory of Diercks' mother. "O Salutaris Hostia" is a new work by Filipino composer Ily Matthew Maniano, one of the most sought-after composers in the Philippines today.

The Wartburg Choir is an auditioned choir directed by Lee Nelson. The choir travels throughout the United States performing concert tours every year. Every three years the group also travels and performs internationally during the month of May.

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