Fairfield University Glee Club performs "A Choral Tapestry" at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts | Press Releases

The Fairfield University Glee Club with Festival Orchestra will present its annual spring concert, "A Choral Tapestry," on Saturday, April 16, at 8 p.m. at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

Under the direction of Dr. Carole Ann Maxwell, "A Choral Tapestry" blends Western European choral music with folk music arrangements from the United States and many emerging countries, During the evening, the Glee Club explored the varied traditions, rhythms and languages that make up the soul of choral music around the globe.

The program features: "Viva la Musica," a piece by Ivan Erod of Hungary; "Salmo 150" by Ernani Aguiar of Prazil; "Hej, pada, pada," a Slovak folk song arranged by Gary Gregoricka; and American Larry Farrow's "Jamaican Market Place." Other highlights are "Agnus Dei" from Verdi's "Requiem," Haydn's "Te Deum," and selections from "Les Miserables," by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg.

In addition to the full Glee Club, the concert will feature performances by the smaller ensembles Sweet Harmony, the Men's Ensemble, the Chamber Singers and the Sine Nomine Singers.

Galen Tate will accompany the Glee Club and the Rev. Charles H. Allen, S.J., is the chaplain.

The Fairfield University Glee Club is a mixed chorus of 100 undergraduate and graduate students continuing a 58-year legacy of musical excellence on campus and abroad. The choir has performed at Carnegie Hall, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Westminster Cathedral in London, the Aula Paolo VI at the Vatican and the U.S. military academies at West Point and Annapolis.

This season, the performed in Washington, D.C., and the Chamber singers joined The Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut and the Connecticut grand Opera and Orchestra in a March performance of Verdi's "Requiem." The Glee Club will perform at a liturgy and mini-concert at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in New York on Saturday, April 2, and its spring pops concert is scheduled for Monday, May 2, at 7 :30 p.m. at the Quick Center.

Dr. Maxwell, director of Choral and Liturgical Music for Fairfield University since 1980, is also the artistic director and conductor of The Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut and a chorus master of The Greater Bridgeport Symphony. She has conducted choruses for the Prague Radio Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Orchestra and the Yale Opera Ensemble.

Dr. Maxwell was guest conductor of the Gregg Smith Singers at the Adirondack Music Festival, principal conductor of both the National Pastoral Musicians Convention and the National Council of Churches Workshop on Christian and Jewish Relations. She has shared the stage with jazz icon Dave Brubeck and the Dave Brubeck Quartet, opera legends Sherrill Milnes, Marilyn Horne and Renee Fleming, and composers Stephen Schwarz, Stephen Sondheim and Charles Strouse.

Tickets are $10, $6 for students. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396.