Southern Utah University’s vocal ensembles are performing their Valentine’s Day-themed concert “Love Bites” on Monday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Heritage Center Theater. This concert will feature all choral ensembles and a live rock band.
“Love Bites” will be the vocal ensembles’ seventh annual pop concert. The singers hope to express some pain for those who might not want to celebrate Valentine’s Day and convey the journey of love through song.
“It is all about love and is very rhythmic with different tempos than what we have been classically trained to sing,” said Theatre Arts and Music Education major Lawrence Mbaki. “The music also tells of how love hurts and for those who don’t have love on Valentine’s Day, it’s a bittersweet experience. I’m a hopeless romantic so I’m looking forward to entertaining our audience.”
The choirs performing are Opus, Concert Choir and Luminosa. The program will include pop songs like Queen’s “Somebody to Love.”
Opus is SUU’s premier mixed ensemble that can perform chamber music and music with more sound and depth of character. The group has toured extensively in the United States including Nevada, Arizona, California and Washington.
Concert Choir is a bigger choral group with 50-60 singers. They perform two to three concerts a semester — prior concerts have included compositions like Faure’s “Requiem,” Bach’s “Magnificat” and Vivaldi’s “Gloria.” Both Opus and Concert Choir have students from different majors outside of the performing arts.
Luminosa is an auditioned all-female treble choir designed to provide vocal, choral and musical skill development. The lack of male voices in their sound is a stylistic choice that makes their performances unique.
“We enlisted the help of Kit Chatham, one of our alumni from the Master of Music in Music Technology program, on a couple of songs,” said recent SUU graduate Michael D’Orazio. “This concert should have a lot of songs the audience will know so if you come, please sing along.”
Concert tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for alumni with card, $5 for youth and free for students with a valid SUU ID. Tickets can be purchased at the American First Event Center box office before the performances or online.
Find more information about the concert and SUU Choirs on the music department’s website.
Story by: Addie Horsley
accent@suunews.net
Photo courtesy of SUU Department of Music
