Fairfield University Glee Club presents "Spring Fling" at Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts | Press Releases

The Fairfield University Glee Club will take on everything from Gregorian chant to "Guys and Dolls" in its "Spring Fling" concert on Saturday, April 17, at 8 p.m. at the University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

The varied program reflects the joy and excitement of spring, touching on renewed life and new love, as well as the sacred hymns and songs of the Easter season.

The concert features two treatments of "Regina Coeli," a festive traditional Catholic hymn to the Virgin Mary sung during the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost. The first featuring this simple motet was written by Gregor Aichinger, a German composer of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Michel Richard de La Lande treatment of the same text, which the Glee Club will perform later in the program, is an example of the "Grand Motet" style that flourished in France in the court chapel of Louis XIV. Composed before the turn of the 18th century, it uses simple Gregorian chant as a basis for rich contrapuntal lines and embellishments.

The program also includes "Easter Chorale," a piece written by 20th-century American composer Samuel Barber and based on a poem by Pack Browning. The subdued, yet joyful composition ends the first section of the concert.

In addition to the full glee club, the evening will include performances by the smaller Sine Nomine Singers, Sweet Harmony, The Chamber Singers and the Men's Ensemble. The program ends on a rousing note with "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" from the musical "Guys and Dolls."

The Glee Club, under the direction of Carole Ann Maxwell, is continuing its 55-year musical legacy at Fairfield University. A mixed chorus of more than 130 undergraduate and graduate singers, the Glee Club has performed in churches, schools and recital and concert halls throughout Europe, singing from Galway to Rome and Florence to London. It has performed at Carnegie Hall, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Westminster and Southward Cathedrals in London, and the Aula Paolo VI at the Vatican.

Maxwell has served as director of choral and liturgical music at Fairfield University since 1980. She is also artistic director and conductor of The Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut and chorus master of the Yale Opera. She has prepared and conducted choruses for the Prague Radio Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony among others.

Senior Michael Ciavaglia will also conduct during the performance.

Tickets are $10, with discounts available for staff, faculty and students. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396. For more information, visit the website www.quickcenter.com. Media inquiries should be made to Dana Ambrosini, assistant director of media relations, at (203) 254-4000, ext. 2726.