This weekend, Nova Singers will take listeners from 15th-century classical music straight to the streets of South Africa in a single program.
Under the direction of Laura Lane, 22 singers join the professional vocal ensemble to open its 41st season with two performances of “Music of South Africa” – 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at First Lutheran Church in Galesburg, and 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport.
"It's a completely different kind of experience from listening to what we normally do in Nova Singers with our classical choral repertoire," Lane said. "You're going to have to be smiling when you see the singers doing this and hearing this music."
The first, shorter half of the program does start out with Nova Singers’ classical choral repertoire, with five generations of what Lane calls sweet and great music selected directly from singer requests.
That 18-minute first half includes selections from Monteverdi and Palestrain to Fanny Mendelssohn and John Rutter.
"I asked them their very favorite songs they've ever sung with Nova," Lane said. "I have this list and I look at all of them, and then I picked my favorite ones of their favorite ones. So that's how it came about. I decided the first half should be very short and each piece really different from the other."
From there, however, things take quite a turn after intermission. It’s a shift of mood, movement, continents, and conductors.
Guest conductor Michael Barrett, an internationally known composer, conductor, and educator from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, will lead the second half of the program.
The selection features indigenous South African melodies, original compositions by Barrett, and works by other contemporary South African composers. It will feature a shaker, a djembe drum, and traditional movements and gestures taught by Barrett.
"Because in South Africa, nobody sings without moving," said Lane, who spent time in Africa in the early 2000s. "They all move. But they have certain traditional ways of moving, and he's going to teach that. And it's subtle, but really effective when everybody in a group is doing it."
Barrett last came to Galesburg in 2019 to visit Knox College, but public concerts were canceled due to the polar vortex. Lane attempted to bring him back for Nova Singers’ 40th anniversary last year, but scheduling delays pushed the appearance to this fall.
She said audiences will feel a “huge jolt of joy” listening to the program.
"I think they're going to feel uplifted in a way that they may not have been feeling lately in their lives because this music is so darn happy. I mean, there is no way to sit still. There's no way to not smile."
In addition to the weekend concerts, Barrett will lead a free public workshop, "Singing and Dancing the South African Way," on Friday, Oct. 9, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Galesburg Public Library.
Concert tickets are available at the door for $20 for adults and $17 for seniors. Students are admitted free.
Tri States Public Radio produced this story. TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.
