Ouachita Singers to release new CD titled “City Called Heaven”
September 30, 2016 - Haley Martin
Two Ouachita Baptist University choral groups, Ouachita Singers and Women’s Chorus,
will release a CD on the evening of their Oct. 18 concert. The CD will cost $15, and
all proceeds of this year’s CD will go toward the Ouachita Singers’ choir tour of
Italy over spring break.
“This year, because Singers is going to Italy over spring break, we are going to have
a fundraising project with our CDs and sell them to help the students raise money
for going on the trip,” said Dr. Gary Gerber, director of the Ouachita Singers and
dean of the OBU School of Fine Arts.
The CD’s title track, “City Called Heaven,” was arranged by Josephine Poelinitz and
features soloist Kayla Walker, a senior musical theatre major from North Little Rock,
Ark. Other songs on the CD performed by the Ouachita Singers include “O Clap Your
Hands” by John Rutter, “Ave Maria” by Javier Busto, “Song of Exaltation” by John Ness
Beck, “Adoramus te, Christe” by Eric Barnum, “God of the Deep” by Dan Forrest, “Lullaby”
by Daniel Elder and “Dwijavanthi” arranged by Ethan Sperry.
Women’s Chorus, conducted by Dr. Becky Morrison, performs three songs, “In the Sweet
By and By” arranged by Daniel J. Hall, “Your Masterpiece” by Philip Thompson and Zenzo
Matoga and “Bring Me Little Water, Silvy” by Huddie Ledbetter. Featured soloists include
Bethany Gere, a 2016 musical theatre and communication sciences and disorders graduate
from White Hall, Ark.; Sarah Sandy, a junior psychology major from El Dorado, Ark.;
and Hailey Weiner, a 2016 musical theatre graduate from Maumelle, Ark.
Though the CD primarily features the 2015-2016 choirs, it also includes recordings
of the 2014 Ouachita Singers in concert at the Southwestern Division Conference of
the American Choral Directors Association. They perform “Exsultate Justi” by Thomas
Juneau, “I Will Lift Mine Eyes” by Jake Runestad, “There Will Come Soft Rains” by
Ivo Antognini, “Vi Adoro” by Manolo Da Rold, “Fair Ines” by Eric Barnum and “Let There
Be Light” by Craig Courtney.
“The main thing is trying to capture, in time, that moment where those students were
in Singers,” Gerber noted. “You want them to have some kind of substantial recording
of what they’ve done.”
“I have been in Singers for four years now, and it feels amazing to have been able
to contribute to this CD,” said Alexis Morgan, a senior music education major from
Frisco, Texas. “Music moves the soul, and now I will always have a piece of my experience
with me wherever I go.”
The CD is available for purchase in the OBU Bookstore in Evans Student Center, in
the School of Fine Arts dean’s suite in Mabee Fine Arts room 107 or through current
choir members. The Oct. 18 concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s
McBeth Recital Hall and is free and open to the public.
For more information about the CD or Ouachita’s School of Fine Arts, contact Dr. Gary
Gerber at [email protected] or (870) 245-5128.
By Haley Martin
September 30, 2016
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