Fairfield University Glee Club presents its annual spring concert | Press Releases

The British are coming! The British are coming! The Fairfield University Glee Club, under the baton of Carole Ann Maxwell, presents "The British Explosion," its annual spring concert, Saturday, April 13 at 8 p.m. in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

The program begins with selections of psalms by British composers and concludes with a tribute to those four British mop tops, the Beatles. Accompanying the 130-member Glee Club will be Galen Tate, organist and director of music at St. Thomas More Church in Darien, and the Festival Orchestra, with guest artists Beth Palmer and Gunnar Sahlin.

The concert, which features extraordinary psalms sung throughout the church's liturgical cycle, is the first in a series of six being recorded as documentation for Maxwell's doctorate degree in sacred music. In Biblical times, psalms were a way for the Israelites to respond to triumphs and tribulations in their lives. The spring concert features five settings representing three different periods of musical styles. Among them are William Boyce's "I Was Glad" (Psalm 122) and John Rutter's "O Clap Your Hands" (Psalm 47).

During the second half of the program, the Glee Club will perform "Do You Hear the People Sing?," the recognizable anthem from Broadway's "Les Misérables." Next, Sweet Harmony, a choral group under the direction of Allison Morrow and Elizabeth Illengwarth, and the Men's Ensemble, under the direction of Michael Rubin and Michael Ciavaglia, will perform the music of British composers. The program concludes with "Awkward Silence," a Beatles tribute featuring Tom DiGiacomo and Chris Calamera on guitar, Matt Krupa on drums and Larry Vallerie on bass.

Founded more than 50 years ago, the Fairfield University Glee Club is the parent organization of the Sine Nomine Singers, Sweet Harmony, the Men's Ensemble and the Chamber Singers. Collectively, these choral ensembles have presented concerts in prestigious venues throughout the United States and Europe, including New York's Carnegie Hall, Washington, D.C.'s National Cathedral and London's Westminster Cathedral.

Maxwell, the director of choral and liturgical music at Fairfield University since 1980, is one of America's preeminent conductors of collegiate, community and professional choral ensembles. She serves as artistic director and conductor of the Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut and is chorus master for Yale Orchestra and the Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra.

Tickets to the concert are $6 and $8 and may be reserved by calling the box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll-free at 1-877-ARTS-396.