End-of-semester concert by the University Choir

As always, this winter semester at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences will conclude with a sophisticated concert presented by the University Choir of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and the International University Institute in Zittau.

Just a few weeks after the sensational performance of Mozart’sRequiem at St. John’s Church in Zittau on Remembrance Sunday, the choir will present a completely different side of itself this time, thereby demonstrating the enormous breadth of its repertoire and the musical challenges it sets for itself.

Thus, on Sunday,January 24, at 5:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the university in Görlitz (Furtstraße—Bluebox building), exclusively secular vocal works will be performed, with the majority of the parts sung by the choir’s vocal soloists. Admission to the concert is free.

The program features not only rarely heard choral works by 20th-century composers (including Armin Knab, Neithard Bethke, Felix Oberborbeck, Fritz Jöde, and Carl Orff), the program also features old masters of choral composition such as Clemens non Papa, who was active during the late Renaissance.

Special attention will be given to the solo pieces performed by choir members who have been mentored by Neithard Bethke in voice lessons. The program will feature a cantata for solo bass by Georg Philipp Telemann, three songs for soprano from Neithard Bethke’s *Jahrkreis, Op. 69*, an excerpt from the comic opera “Bastien und Bastienne” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, two songs for bass from Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise, ” Italian arias by Antonio Caldara and Giuseppe Giordani for alto, an aria from the opera “Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for baritone, and two enchantingly beautiful songs for alto by Robert Schumann from the cycle “Frauenliebe und Leben” as well as from the “Wesendonck Lieder” by Richard Wagner.

The virtuosic alto aria “Ombra felice” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as the famous scene featuring Agathe, “Wie nahte mir der Schlummer,” from the opera “Der Freischütz” by Carl Maria von Weber for soprano, will grace this musically engaging and varied program, which choir director Prof. Dr. Neithard Bethke will present and accompany from the piano.

For every music lover, this concert will be yet another unforgettable event, just like all the University Choir’s previous concerts. Detailed programs will be available at the entrance. Directional signs to the auditorium are posted on campus for those unfamiliar with the area. Interested listeners who wish to sing in the choir and believe they meet the high standards of this choir should therefore not miss this end-of-semester concert in order to gain an insight into the choir’s level of performance; they should then contact the choir members or the choir director. Absolute reliability in attending rehearsals is the primary requirement, in addition to the necessary musical training, for singing in the University Choir, which also has major challenges ahead in the future.

Rehearsals for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Mass in C Major will begin shortly in preparation for the summer semester’s final concert. In the fall, the annual choir concert tour will take place again, this time to Denmark. In addition, the University Choir will perform three concerts of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Berlin Cathedral during the following winter semester.