Southern Utah University’s choirs held their first concert of the fall semester on Oct. 6. The concert took place at 7 p.m. in the Heritage Center Theater and was primarily focused toward the participants in the high school Shakespeare competition.
The concert began with the Luminosa women’s choir under the direction of Kristin Briggs, one of the vocal instructors at SUU. They first performed “Black is the Color,” a traditional melody arranged by LeGrand Anderson, an emeritus professor of SUU. They concluded their portion of the concert with “Two Traditional Spanish Songs” by Michael Neaum.
Their performance was followed by SUU’s Concert Choir, directed by Dr. Andrew Briggs, the director of choral activities. Their first piece was titled “Ave Maria” by Jacob Arcadelt, a composer from the early 14th century. It was followed by “Ol’ Dan Tucker,” arranged by Douglas Ipson, professor of music history and theory. Finally, they performed “Shout Glory!” by Byron J. Smith.
OPUS Choir then took the stage, beginning their portion of the concert with “Abendlich schon rauscht der Wald” by Fanny Hensel, a song depicting wind rustling through the forest. After a few other selections, the choir sang “Morning Song” by Clark Lawlor, the winner of the Utah American Choral Directors Association’s 2023 composition competition, as their final piece. 
To conclude the concert, SUU’s choirs invited the high school Shakespeare competition participants to join them on stage. The combined groups sang “When You Believe” from “The Prince of Egypt,” written by Stephen Schwartz.
The performance was the culmination of the competition that had taken place earlier that day, with high school music groups performing for judges in order to receive adjudication and rankings.
A livestream of the concert can be found here. For more information regarding the music department and its upcoming events, visit its website.
Story by: Gracie Butterfield
Photos courtesy of SUULive1
Editor: Tessa Cheshire
accent@suunews.net
