Exultate Deo Chamber Choir announces two performances of its English Anthem

July 26, 2017
By: O. J. Cunningham

Project. The select ensemble will perform on Sunday, July 30, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Freeland and on Sunday, August 6, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. at Midland United Church of Christ. The program will feature music from the English Renaissance and Baroque and trace the birth of the anthem in the English language that began at the Reformation in England.

Composers being featured are Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585), Christopher Tye (c.1505-1573), Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), William Byrd (1539-1623), Adrian Batten (1591-1637) and Henry Purcell (1659-1695). Tallis and Tye are credited with composing the first anthems written in English and inventing the hymn tune during the Reformation in England.

A small ensemble from Exultate Deo Chamber Choir will perform the choral music, organist Nicholas Schmelter will accompany the group and Robert Sabourin will direct. Schmelter will also play "Chromatic Fantasia on Ut Re Mi Fa So La" by John Bull (1562/1563-1628) and "A Fancy in Gamut Flat" by Orlando Gibbons and "Alleluya Post Partum" by Thomas Tallis.

The audience will be asked to sing well-known hymns with the choir to tunes

composed by the composers being highlighted. These include: "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say" (The Third Tune), "All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night" (Tallis' Canon), "Holy Spirit, Truth Divine" (Song 13), "Lord, Teach Us How to Pray Aright" (Song 67),"Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I Go" (Song 34), "Eternal Ruler of the Ceaseless Round" (Song 1) in Freeland. In Midland, the hymns will include: "All Praise Be Yours, My God, This Night" ( Tallis' Canon), "We Have the Strength to Lift and Bear" (The Third Tune), and "For the Healing of the Nations" (Westminster Abbey).

The program is open to the public free of charge. Zion Lutheran Church is located at 545 7th Street in Freeland. Midland United Church of Christ is located at 4100 Chestnut Hill Drive in Midland. Both churches are air conditioned. For more information please call Zion at 989-695-9626 or the United Church of Christ 989-631-1136.

Singers for The English Anthem Project:
Allison Dakos, Saginaw
Valerie Fargo, Midland
Diane Gladstone, Saginaw
Robin Von Wald, Midland
Julie Willison, Midland
Tara Aukerman, Midland
Patti Bowen, Midland
Jane Girdham, Saginaw
Jan Wollner, Midland
David Aukerman, Midland
Keith Kidder, Saginaw
Martin Severance, Midland
Barry George, Midland
Jim Gladstone, Saginaw
David King, Freeland
Seth Von Wald, Saginaw