This week’s Nova Singers concert is a first.
The 20-member professional vocal ensemble was initially set to perform the program called “A Voice of Her Own” three years ago, but the pandemic got in the way.
It features the works of all female composers.
Laura Lane, founder and music director of Nova Singers, said performing it now is the realization of a long-held dream.
“A lot of people won’t recognize most of the names because they were women who were writing music but for lots of reasons which we all understand, didn’t get the attention they deserved,” Lane said.
The program begins with the medieval chants of Hildegard von Bigen, progresses through 17th-century prodigy Vittoria Aleotti and 19th-century geniuses Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Clara Schumann.
It ends with the work of modern-day composers Abbie Betinis, Joan Szymko and Hyo-Won Woo.
“What’s unusual is the thematic nature of the program required me to do music from completely different time periods and completely different instrumental combinations,” Lane said.
Another first for the Nova Singers with this concert is choreography, Szymko’s “At Such a Dizzy Height.”
“It was written only a few years ago for violin, cello, piano, and dancers and choir,” Lane said.
Original choreography by Knox College’s Jennifer Smith will be performed by dancers MJ Opulencia and Juan Enrique R. Irizarry, Jr., who are a current and a past Knox student respectively.
Also featured on this program are pianist Sora Park Shepard, flutist Suyeon Ko, violinist Dortha DeWit, and cellist Steven Jackson.
Performances of “A Voice of Her Own” are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at First Lutheran Church in Galesburg and 4 p.m. Sunday at Saint Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $17 for seniors, available at www.novasingers.com or at the door. Admission for students is free.
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