More than 2,000 singers expected at Oklahoma City peace concert

Posted by brandy

on March 5, 2009M at 12:07 pm

Oklahoma City National Memorial (The Oklahoman Archives photo)

More than 2,000 singers are expected to perform in the Peace Event choral concert at 9 a.m. Friday at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, 620 N Harvey Ave.

The performance will feature local and national choirs gathered in Oklahoma City this week for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) conference.

The public is invited to attend the free choral concert at the outdoor symbolic memorial.

The event will be led by Grammy-nominated choral ensemble Conspirare and will feature Oklahoma City’s Canterbury Youth Chorus and the University of Oklahoma Brass Choir.

Readings of the words of American and American Indian poets Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry and Joy Harjo will also be included.

Featured music includes a piece from Maurice Duruflé’s “Requiem” and the moving song “Requiem” by singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson, dedicated to victims of disaster. In addition to brief choral presentations by the featured musicians and ensembles, the expected 3,000-plus attendees will participate in an extraordinarily special collage of community singing, spoken word and shared silence.

In each of the host cities in which the ACDA has held its conferences, choral events have taken place at renowned performance venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall and other famous venues.

Because ACDA wants to show off its hometown to its members, they chose Oklahoma City for their 50th annual conference and they chose to have one of their premiere events for the conference at the National Memorial.

For more information, go to www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org.

-BAM

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