Kenyon College Chamber Singers at St. James, Westwood

The Kenyon College Chamber Singers will perform at St. James, Westwood, on Thursday, March 6 at 7 pm. The Chamber Singers, consisting of forty-five undergraduates chosen by competitive audition, is Kenyon’s premier touring ensemble. The group is noted for its versatility of vocal style and broad repertoire.

A centerpiece to the program will be Ralph Vaughan Williams’s setting of words by John Bunyan, taken from his allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, entitled Valiant-for-Truth. Another highlight of the program is a performance of Beloved, composed by Kenyon graduate Andrea Daly in honor of Katheen Locke who passed away in 2020. The ensemble is noted for its regular inclusion of music from South Africa, which this year includes Noya Na?, a Xhosa hymn, and Bawo, Thixo Somandla, a combination prayer/protest anthem dating from the time of Apartheid. Additional composers represented on the program are Palestrina, Joan Szymko, Jean Mouton, William Dawson, Johannes Brahms, and others.