The CSU Concert and Chamber Choirs sing in the spring semester with new takes on classic pieces as well as musical renditions of poetry from around the world. Ryan Olsen leads the Concert Choir through performances of poems and Gaelic proverbs, followed by James Kim conducting the Chamber Choir through classic pieces by Bach, Schoenberg, and more on Friday, Mar. 6, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. in the Griffin Concert Hall at the University Center for the Arts, located at 1400 Remington St.
Tickets are $7 for CSU students, $1 for youth (under 18), and $12 for the public. Tickets are available at the University Center for the Arts (UCA) ticket office in the UCA lobby Monday through Friday, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Under the direction of Ryan Olsen, the Concert Choir presents new music alongside distinguished poetry from around the world. The performance includes a brand new setting of Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things, a Gaelic proverb, and a piece from poet Mirza Ghalib. The chamber choir, under the direction of James Kim, performs Josef Rheinberger’s Mass in Eb, Arnold Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden, and Bach’s motet, Jesu, meine Freude, to name a few.
Born in Newcastle, Ky. in 1934, Berry grew up working on his father’s farm. He later went on to become a creative writing fellow in the Wallace Stegner writing program at Stanford University. There he found a love of writing poetry, fiction, and essays. Poetry gave Berry literary recognition and his essays gained him a broader audience.
No matter what he is writing, his message stays consistent: humans must find harmony with the natural world. His poem The Peace of Wild Things makes this point clearly. It starts with a simple description of a rural place, and then evolves to call out the readers’ own idea of their place of calm and peace.
About Ryan Olsen
Dr. Ryan Olsen is on faculty as Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education and director of the CSU Concert Choir. Dr. Olsen has been active in all levels of music education in Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. A native of Kansas City, Dr. Olsen received his Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Arts in Music with an emphasis in choral music education from the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
About James Kim
Dr. James Kim is currently the Director of Choral Activities at Colorado State University. He directs the CSU Chamber Choir and also teaches undergraduate/graduate conducting, choral literature, and choral techniques. After earning two degrees from University of Southern California, James Kim was invited by the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart to study with Helmuth Rilling for three years. Read more.
The University Center for the Arts at Colorado State University provides an enriched venue in which the study and practice of Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre are nurtured and sustained by building the skills and knowledge needed by future generations of arts professionals to become contributors to the essential vitality of our culture and society.
For more information, visit UCA.Colostate.edu.