Thank you so very much, and thank you for being here with us this afternoon in our hall. It's my pleasure
to introduce you to the 2018-2019 Singing Hoosiers. That last tune was an arrangement by Dr.
Raymond Wise, who is a faculty member here. He works with the African American Choral Ensemble here
at Indiana University. Dr. Wise, we had the privilege of working with him a few weeks ago.
And he talked a bit about this music and gave us some context about the spiritual and the universal
messages that are contained within it. And he talked specifically about these two seemingly contrasting
ideas of suffering and hope, and that sometimes our suffering is the doorway through which we find hope
and through which we find redemption. And so this program today is crafted around that idea. The title,
How I Got Over, comes from a hymn written by Clara Ward in the 1950s.
that was popularized by the great Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer, who famously performed it in 1963
at the onset of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. And so that is where our program title
comes from. And again, that was Dr. Raymond Wise's arrangement of I've Got a Robe. We'll continue the
set with two pieces in the Latin jazz style that speak more to the newness of love relationship. The
first is Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine, arranged by Greg Jaspers.
And the next is Besame Mucho by Consuelo Velasquez, arranged by Paris Rutherford.
Good afternoon, everybody. My name is April Varner, and I'm the student director of Resolution, aka
the Singing Hoosiers Vocal Jazz Ensemble. This next piece you're going to hear is written by
the ever-so-talented writer, arranger, and jazz vocalist, Rosanna Eckert. This piece is quite the challenge,
but we've really, really enjoyed working on it, and we can't wait to perform it for you, and we hope
it makes you want to dance around a little bit. So without further ado, please enjoy Evermore.
of a face reveals how it used to be. On my own, steady to the stone, battling the great unknown. Across
a desert land to find a river in the sand, a sudden miracle was right in front of me.
about a year ago, I encountered this album called Planetarium, and it's a result of a collaboration
by musicians who work seemingly in very different genres. One is Sufjan Stevens, a popular singer-songwriter.
The other is Nico Muli, a British composer, and the third is Bryce Dresner, who is mostly known for
his work as a drummer with the indie rock band The National. And the three of them came together and
put together this album in which all of the music is based on themes of different planetary bodies and
concepts. This piece, Saturn, is, I think, particularly kind of
jumps off the page into the ear to me, for a lot of different reasons. It speaks to the sense of division
that we find as a central theme within this program, too, and the way that division ultimately leads
to redemption and transcendence. And so about a year ago, I was really fortunate to encounter one of
our graduate students here in composition, Catherine Baudoir. Catherine's right here.
And I had a conversation, and I said, what would you think about arranging Saturn from Nico
Muli's planetarium for us? And she said, I think that would be a great idea. She's done a fantastic
job with it, and we're really excited to premiere this arrangement of the piece today. This also features
two wonderful violinists, Alina Rubio and Bryson Carer.
Our rhythm section, along with Luka Marenkovich, this is not his debut on the synthesizer. It is his
second time playing the synthesizer in performance. His debut was on Michael Jackson's Thriller last
spring in the IU Auditorium, but we're very happy to be having him back doing it again. So without further
ado, this is Catherine Baudour's arrangement of Saturn.
you.
Thank you. That was Sam Robson's arrangement of One Day I'll Fly Away. That song and the next song that
we'll perform as well have to do with this idea of flight and flight again relating to the concept of
transcendence. One Day I'll Fly Away will now be followed up by a song that was debuted on the 1992
album by the singer-songwriter Annie Lennox. The album was titled Diva and the song is called Little
Bird. Again, you'll hear a lot of bird and flight type imagery here. So without further ado, this is
Kirby Shaw's arrangement of Annie Lennox's Little Bird.
So, I, my name is Sophie Rhoats, and I am the student director of Shakapella this year. Now, if anyone
is familiar with acapella music, it basically means that we sing with no instruments. So, that's kind
of fun. But if any of you are familiar with the acapella realm of things, does anyone know pentatonix?
They're pretty. They're pretty up there. So we will be performing this beautiful arrangement off of
one of their solo albums entitled Light in the Hallway. It's a gorgeous piece, and it speaks to a lot
of us, I think, in a lot of different ways. So with that, please enjoy Light in the Hallway.
If you're scared of the darkness, I will calm your fear. There's a light in the hallway, so you know
I'm here. So count your blessings every day.
We had a power outage on campus last night, and we were rehearsing that during the dress rehearsal.
I was sitting out in the back of the house, and they sang that line, you are not alone, and the lights
flickered. And then they sang, I kid you not, make the monsters go away, and the lights flickered again.
And I said, boy, if that isn't a sign of something, then somebody said, oh no, there's a power outage
on campus.
So thank you to Sophie and Shakapella. The next two pieces on the program share the commonality of being
written by artists who defy convention, both musically and in their personal and artistic lives as well.
The first is by the English rock band Queen, written by Freddie Mercury, Don't Stop Me Now, and then
we'll follow that up with a medley of music by contemporary soul singer-songwriter Janelle Monae, arranged
for us by Singing Hoosier's alum, recent alum, from the composition department, Alex Burko.
Chalk it, break it, baby, electro-submissive.
There's a powerful line in that piece by Oletta Adams, sing the hatred into love. And that's something
that we have the pleasure of doing here today every day. And yesterday as we finished our dress rehearsal,
I talked to this group and said, it's so important in the world in which we live every day that we realize
that what we do makes a difference. And that when we perform, when we're in settings like this, that
our audience becomes part of this family and part of this circle as well. There's a circular relationship
that exists between us as performers
and you as audience members as well, and all of our stories become part of this performance and part
of what we do. Otherwise, the Singing Hoosiers family only exists for itself, and we want to extend
it as far as we can. Speaking of which, some of our alumni were very, very, well, many of our alumni
are here today. Make some noise if you're a Singing Hoosiers alum. Eight o'clock is usually where we have
The first time I experienced it last year, I didn't know what I was in for, so I feel like I'm at a
party here, not at a concert. But it's absolutely wonderful to have the support of our alums and all
of you who are here to be with us today. There will be some alumni representatives sitting at a table
outside here today. We can't do what we do without your support and help, and they would be more than
happy to talk to you about ways that you can continue to support the Singing Hoosiers in what we do.
As we conclude our program with our last three pieces, we're going to start with two songs about rivers.
The first is Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini's Moon River, which of course we can't hear without thinking
of Aubrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. And Johnny Mercer wrote these lyrics actually as he was
reminiscing on times in his own childhood, looking back, visiting a family home in Georgia together
and a friend that he made there. So it's a song of reminiscence
There's bits of melancholy in it, but also a song of hope as we look forward and think of this idea
of the river as something that brings us forward, that carries life and that cleanses as well. We follow
that up with a favorite of ours, a paying tribute to the great Hoagy Carmichael up a lazy river. And
then we'll conclude our program today with Jason Burke's arrangement of Steppin' Out by Irving Berlin.