UT choir preforms at Toledo Museum of Art

If you need a break from studying this weekend, the University of Toledo’s Concert Chorale has just the event for you.

The choir will be performing the musical works of German composer, Hugo Distler, in the Toledo Museum of Art’s Great Gallery on Sunday, December 1 11 a1th at 3 p.m.

UT’s choral director, Bradley Pierson, said that he believes the Great Gallery is a perfect location for a concert.

“It truly is a world class museum. We are honored to have the opportunity to perform there,” Pierson said. “Beyond that, this is music that I am very passionate about, and I know that the choir has grown to love it as well.,”

The choir has performed several selections from Distler’s “Totentanz” (Dance of Death) and “Die Weihnachtsgeschichte” (“The Christmas Story”) in other concerts these past few months and will do so once again at the concert.

“These beautiful acapella works are two highlights from Distler’s catalogue, and are excellent representatives of the ‘New German Church Music’ which rose to prominence in the early 1900s,” said Pierson. “Heavily influenced by the music of the Renaissance and Early Baroque, Distler utilizes exciting rhythmic part-writing to accentuate these sacred texts.”

Those performing in the concert say that although it is a lot of work, it is worth it.

“We meet every day of the week for an hour to make music together, but we are expected to spend time with the “physical” music on our own time,” said Meridian Prall, a vocal performance major and choral member. “Concert Chorale is a lot of work, but it just makes it that more rewarding to be a part of this ensemble. To prepare for concerts, such as that in the Great Gallery, we work to improve the expressive qualities of the music in class.”

Prall also said that the music for this particular concert was difficult to learn.

“This concert in particular is a bit nerve-racking due to the difficulty of the music, but I also look forward to it for this reason,” said Prall. “To me, nothing is more gratifying than learning a crazy hard piece and performing it at a level at which I can be proud.”

Another singer, and third year vocal music education major, Nathaniel Krebs, said that for this concert, the most important part is making sure that the audience is engaged.

“Beyond learning the music, this concert, and others like it, require the choir to be able to communicate this text to an American audience, when most of them do not speak German,” Krebs said. “Being able to communicate a foreign language, to really make sure they can understand the emotion behind it, is what will be working the hardest on.”

Pierson encourages everyone to attend the concert.

“For students who are maybe unfamiliar with choral music, this is a great opportunity to support your peers and to see what our ensembles are all about,” said Pierson. “I think choir sometimes is a bit of a mystery to those who have never sung in one. We hope that students will come out and join us for this free concert, as a way to show some Rocket pride.”