Geneseo Chamber Singers (SUNY Geneseo photo/Ben Gajewski)
Members of Southside Boys and Hips-n-Harmony will join the Geneseo Chamber Singers and Spectrum Singers in a festive holiday-themed choral concert at historic St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in the Village of Geneseo at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 9. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.
The concert will feature a new work by SUNY Geneseo alumna Simone Louie '18 entitled, "Missa Brevis," to be performed by the Geneseo Chamber Singers. Louie majored in music with a concentration in composition. The work premiered last year on GREAT Day and served as the composer's senior capstone project. Noted for its many interesting and unique musical elements, Gerard Floriano, who is the director of Chamber Singers and chair of the Department of Music, calls the work “exciting and refreshingly offbeat," and says that "it is an incredible achievement for such a young composer and is a testament to Simone’s talent and her hard work while she was a student at Geneseo.”
Also on the program will be works featuring the combined voices of Spectrum Singers, Hips-n-Harmony, and the women of Chambers Singers, as well as a combined piece to be sung by members of Southside Boys with the men of Chamber Singers. "This first-time collaboration between the music department’s choral ensembles and campus a cappella groups on the same concert is an exciting venture and one which could foreshadow exciting future endeavors," Floriano said.
The Geneseo Chamber Singers celebrated their 60th anniversary this past May with a variety of events including a spring concert performance.