Balliol Singers celebrate America

CHAMBER choir the Balliol Singers are taking a trip across the Atlantic for their concerts in Lockerbie and Dumfries.

Under the direction of Katharine Durran, the choir will be presenting a celebration of 250 years of American independence, offering a wide range of acapella choral music, both sacred and secular, from the fascinating 18th century New England composer William Billings to the moderns Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen, from traditional songs to Broadway and Hollywood hits.

Other celebrated American-born composers will be represented by Amy Beach, Florence Price, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Randall Thompson, while a tribute to the swathe of European musicians who settled in the USA will be given in the form of pieces by Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg.

From stage and screen well-known songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Burt Bacharach will be offered, while the ‘title track’ is an arrangement of a beautiful ballad by the popular 19th century figure Stephen Foster.

The choir will perform on Tuesday March 24 at All Saints Episcopal Church in Lockerbie, and on Thursday March 26 at The Usual Place in Dumfries. Both concerts begin at 7.30 pm.