The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The Edgewood College Chamber Singers will make history when it performs by invitation at a sacred music festival in Quito, Ecuador later this month.

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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has just a small — yet big — news item to pass along today:

The Edgewood College Chamber Singers (below) will perform by invitation later this month at the International Sacred Music Festival in Quito, Ecuador.

The choir will perform under the direction of Sergei Pavlov (below), who writes:

“The Festival Internacional de Música Sacra in Quito is a long-standing tradition and one of the most prestigious Easter music festivals in South America.

“It is organized by the National Theater (Teatro Nacional Sucre) and the Municipality of the City of Quito.

“In previous years, it has featured groups from about 15 countries, and all the performances — around 20 concerts — are completely free for the audience and are presented in numerous historic churches in Quito.

“The Edgewood Chamber Singers is the first American youth choir to be invited (last year the group from the U.S. was the professional American Spiritual Ensemble). We will be performing together with the youth choir of Teatro Sucre and the National Chamber Choir of Ecuador.

“The concert will feature music by the Baroque composer Domenico Zipoli – who was an 18th-century missionary in South America; traditional African Christian music; music by Karl Jenkins and Aaron Copland; and spirituals. (You can hear a beautiful non-choral work — an Air — by Domenico Zipoli, performed by the Jean-Francois Paillard Chamber Orchestra in a YouTube video at the bottom.)

“The festival runs for two weeks before Holy Week. We will be there March 17-24 and our concerts are March 21 and March 22.

“Unfortunately, in South America people still rely on TV and newspaper advertising and the on-line info appears only a few weeks before the festival.”

For more information, visit:

http://www.edgewood.edu/News/chamber-singers-prepare-for-performances-in-ecuador