The Montgomery College’s music department will present a special performance by the Montgomery College choirs and Faculty String Ensemble on Thursday, November 1, at 7:30 p.m. on the Mainstage (Bldg. D theatre). The performance is free of charge and open to all campus and community members.
Gregory Ristow, associate professor of music, will direct the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers; faculty musicians Dr. Barbara Rask and Dr. Marshall Davies will perform as well with guest professional artists Meredith Harris (viola), Michael Buckley (cello) and Robert Beck (bass).
The Faculty String Ensemble will perform Schubert’s famous Trout Quintet. The last movement this quintet features variations on Schubert’s song “The Trout,” which paints the picture in music of a trout that is almost caught by a fisherman. To set the stage, faculty tenor Gregory Ristow will perform the Schubert song before the Faculty Strings play.
“This is a fun program for us,” said Ristow, who serves as director of choirs. “It’s a chance to have students and professionals side-by-side on the same program.”
The Montgomery College Chamber Singers will perform The Peaceable Kingdom, by Randall Thompson and two spirituals--the rousing "Every Time I Feel the Spirit" and the lovely "Deep River"--in classic a cappella choral arrangements. The Peaceable Kingdom is a 20-minute a cappella work that draws its text from Isaiah. The composition was inspired by the famous painting of the same name by Edward Hicks. This music has thrilled audiences since its premier in 1936.
Thompson once said that the first responsibility of a composer "is, and always will be, to write music that will reach and move the hearts of his listeners in his own day." His dramatic setting of these texts has proved ageless, and it gives the all-scholarship Chamber Singers a chance to show the wide range of emotion and color of which they are capable.
According to Ristow, “The Peaceable Kingdom is drama-filled and terrifying at times. It’s the perfect Halloween piece.”
More information on upcoming music events is available at montgomery.lonestar.edu/music.
Montgomery College is located at 3200 College Park Drive, one-half mile west of Interstate 45, between Conroe and The Woodlands. For more information about the college, call (936) 273-7000 or visit montgomery.lonestar.edu.
North Harris Montgomery Community College District, among the largest and fastest-growing community colleges in Texas, comprises North Harris College, Kingwood College, Tomball College, Montgomery College, Cy-Fair College, six satellite centers and The University Center.