Albemarle Chorale concerts to showcase women's music

EDENTON — Women composers and their music will take center stage during the Albemarle Chorale’s upcoming spring concerts.

According to a Chorale press release, music selected for “A Woman’s Voice: Music by Women” will range from spirituals and jazz to hymns and folk tunes. Some of the music on the program was written in the last decade, while other selections were written more than a century ago. What all of the music has in common is that it was composed by women.

The Chorale will give two performances of “A Woman’s Voice: Music by Women,” the first at Edenton United Methodist Church in Edenton on Sunday and the second at First United Methodist Church in Elizabeth City on Sunday, May 5. Both concerts are at 4 p.m.

Two selections on the program, “I Thank You God” and “Tree of Peace,” were written by composer and music educator Gwyneth Walker.

Three of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s “Garten Lieder,” or garden songs, are part of the concert. A German composer and pianist, Hensel was the older sister of composer Felix Mendelssohn. Although she composed more than 500 musical works, they initially were printed under her brother’s name.

The Chorale will perform Hensel’s songs, “Dost Thou Hear the Trees That Rustle,” “Morning Greeting,” and “When Woods Are Glowing.”

Two musical selections are from hymnist, poet and teacher Jane Marshall. In her work “Words from Two Women,” Marshall used the texts of two women separated by seven centuries: Mechtild of Magdeburg, who lived from 1207 to 1228, and Teresa of Calcutta, who lived from 1910 to 1997.

“These are performed consecutively and considered a musical work of healing and restoration,” the Chorale press release states.

The Chorale’s second Marshall offering is her most widely sung anthem, “My Eternal King.”

The Chorale also will perform two works by Rosephanye Powell, known for her choral compositions and work preserving African American spirituals, the press release states.

“I Wanna Be Ready” is a traditional spiritual arranged with a soprano solo and chorus that “repeats the melody in hymn-like fashion,” the release states. The words for “To Sit and Dream” were taken from the Langston Hughes’ poem “To You,” in which he describes “his concern over our ‘problem world.’”

The Chorale also will perform “Requiem” by songwriter Eliza Gilkyson. According to the release, Gilkyson wrote the song to commemorate the more than 26,000 victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004.

Also on the program is “Vision,” a song written by Andrea Ramsey that’s based on a poem by May Thielgaard Watts.

“This vocally challenging piece was written ... to express how the smallest things can seem beautiful when seen through new love,” the Chorale said.

Arrangements of traditional tunes by Elaine Hagenberg and Alice Parker also will be performed.

While admission to the concerts is free, donations are appreciated, the Chorale said.