THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502010125
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
FOR ITS ANNUAL Winter Concert, the Chesapeake Civic Chorus will celebrate brotherhood, honor some local composers/music educators and generally uplift the human spirit.
The chorus, under the direction of Geraldine T. Boone, will sing at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Divine Baptist Church.
The group of volunteer citizen-singers has always prided itself in covering classical works and reviving the soulful musical joy of classic Negro spirituals.
``We will cover a lot of territory,'' Boone said. ``We will sing compositions appropriate in church, some folk songs and even a song about brotherhood. And we're highlighting our own Adolphus Hailstork.''
Boone said the evening's major work will be Hailstork's ``Break Forth,'' a work commissioned in 1990 by the Evelyn White Chorale of Washington.
Hailstork, professor of music and composer in residence at Norfolk State University, has written numerous works for chorus, solo voice, chamber ensembles, band and orchestra.
Boone said the Hailstork work will be performed this weekend due to popular request.
``It was well received by the audience when we did it last year,'' she said. ``That's the reason we're doing it again. But we feel more people need to hear it, and since it took a lot of work to learn, we decided to reprise it.''
Boone said the work will feature the chorus accompanied by her son Bruce Thomas on trumpet along with John Jenkins on tympany, Ernest Brown on organ, Stephen Carlson on trumpet and Rodney Martell and Robert Ford on trombones.
Carlson, Martel and Ford are members of the Virginia Symphony.
``It's an uplifting piece with the flavor of Negro spirituals,'' Boone said. ``It uses mixed meters, and there's great interplay between the instruments and voices.''
More uplift will be provided by a selection of spirituals, considered by many to be a forte of the Chesapeake Civic Chorus.
Sunday's spiritual program will include ``Ride On Jesus,'' by Roland Carter, who used to be Hampton University's choral director; ``Po' Mo'ner Got A Home At Las','' arranged by Hall Johnson, considered one of the top composers/arrangers of Negro spirituals in the country; and the concert's brotherhood song, ``Oh Brother Man'' by Roy Ringwald.
Boone said the spirituals will be rounded out by the folk song ``Shenandoah,'' arranged by Linda Spevacek.
The concert's classical program will be highlight such spiritual compositions as Bach's ``All Breathing Life,'' Brahms' ``In Stille Nacht,'' Chenoweth's ``Of the Father's Love Begotten'' and Norman Dello Joio's ``Jubilant Song.''
Currently, the Chesapeake Civic Chorus is 43 voices strong. The ensemble's roster is made up of volunteer music educators, chorale directors and local performers who love to sing, Boone said.
Boone, who retired a couple of years ago after teaching many years with the Norfolk Public School system, is piano accompanist for the Norfolk Academy choirs and teaches vocal music on a part-time basis at the Governor's School for the Arts.
When not working out with the Civic Chorus, she's been part of Virginia Opera chorus singing in the world premiere of Thea Musgrave's opera ``Simon Bolivar.''
``It was fabulous,'' Boone said. ``I really enjoyed it. I tell you, this was my second time being part of a world premiere (the other was with Musgrave's operatic treatment of Harriet Tubman's life) and it was wonderful. I felt I was part of musical history.''
Boone now hopes to further Chesapeake's musical history with Sunday's Chesapeake Civic Chorus Winter Concert.
``It will uplift the spirit,'' she promised. ILLUSTRATION: WINTER VOICES
Who: The Chesapeake Civic Chorus under the direction of Geraldine
T. Boone.
What: Annual Winter Concert
When: 6 p.m., Sunday
Where: Divine Baptist Church, 2917 Galberry Road
Cost: Donations of $4 will be collected at the door.
Call: For more information about the Winter Concert or to join
the chorus, call 547-3682, 545-9197 or 421-9784.
by CNB