University Singers combine food, nature for concert

The University Singers praised food and nature during a food drive concert Wednesday benefiting the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

The choir presented three pieces, two of which were based on literature including “On Walden Pond for Chorus” along with “Reincarnations Op. 16,” a choral piece based on Gaelic writings. They also performed “Fragments from his dish”, a choral piece in five parts praising food and drink, which conductor Chris Ludwa said inspired the food drive portion of the show.

Auer Concert Hall’s cavernous space filled with the sound of 24 voices, three cellos and one harp as the performance began. A giant projector screen above the singers projected the lyrics for each piece. For “Walden Pond,” the screen featured images of nature as well as the lyrics and provided the audience with facts about pollution occurring within the United States.

“I wanted to take a moment to talk about the Walden,” said Ludwa and added there are difficulties in translating the written text to song.

He noted that “Walden Pond” and the writings that inspired Reincarnations were there long before the composers translated them into music.

“We hope to honor the composer of the text as well as of the pieces,” Ludwa said.
For freshman  Kelsey Brannon, who is studying elementary education, the show was a first.

“It’s actually my first show here,” Brannon said. “I liked how they used the visuals and put words to song.”

Graduate student Melissa Hudson and junior  Ryan Torino also listened in.

“I liked it a lot,” Hudson said. “Beautiful. I enjoyed the visuals.”

Hudson also said she enjoyed the text accompanying the songs on the projector screen and said it paid tribute to the texts coming before the sound.

Torino called the combination a “nice collection of contemporary work.”

The concert was also attended by Jacobs School of Music faculty, such as Brian Horne and Michael Schwartzkopf, who said they enjoyed the pieces.

“It was wonderful,” Horn said. “They were very confident, it allowed them to be very expressive.”

“I thought it was a very wonderful show,” agreed Schwartzkopf. “The numbers blended well together and the visuals added to the show.”

Ludwa said the repertoire was good, though difficult.

 “It’s a pleasure to work with such talented singers,” he said.