Chamber Singers Celebrate 40th Anniversary With Concerts

by Richard Veit

The Baylor University Chamber Singers will celebrate their 40th anniversary with concerts at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 27, and at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in Armstrong Browning Library's McLean Foyer of Meditation.
The 16-member Chamber Singers ensemble is conducted Donald Bailey, director of choral activities and The Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Music. They are accompanied by Jacob Miller, a church music graduate student.
The Chamber Singers were founded in 1962 by Dr. Robert H. Young, who served on the Baylor music faculty until his retirement in 1993. Young is still involved with the group, usually conducting his own compositions, such as "Thou Lovely and Beloved," "For Thy Sweet Love" and "Sequel: Set Me As a Seal." During the concerts, he also will lead a performance of "The Blessed Son of God" by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The programs also will include choral music by Bach, Palestrina and Bruckner, as well as Young's Missa Brevis.
Several other compositions will be performed by Frank Sargent, Gerald Finzi, Robert Pearsall, George Oldroyd and Bailey.
The Chamber Singers' repertoire covers several centuries and musical forms, from the Renaissance to contemporary, both secular and sacred. Their performances have been warmly received in churches and schools throughout the United States.
The concerts are free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at 710-3991.