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Duke Arts Presents

Cantus
The Four Loves

Sunday, January 31, 2016 | 7:00 pm

Baldwin Auditorium


Hailed by The Washington Post for their “expressive power and spontaneous grace,” the nine-voice men’s choir Cantus was founded in 1995 when its members were students at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Singing without a conductor, their trademark warmth, blend, and engaging performances have earned them accolades from the likes of the Los Angeles Times: “They revel in a heft of sound hardly imagined possible from nine men singing without accompaniment.”

In this pre-Valentine’s Day concert, Cantus bring their unity and purity of sound to a program of songs about the four loves of ancient Greek tradition. Highlights include Eric Whitacre’s ethereal Lux Aurumque, Gerald Finzi’s romantic Thou Didst Delight My Eyes, and Grieg’s rousing Brothers, Sing On! Cantus have also commissioned four new works for this program from composers David Lang, Roger Treece, Ysaye Barnwell, and Joseph Gregorio.

Plus four new works commissioned by Cantus by:
David Lang
Roger Treece
Joseph Gregorio
& Ysaye Barnwell

Program

Francis Poulenc: Quatre Petites Prières de Saint François d’Assise
Eric Whitacre: Lux Aurumque
Bobby McFerrin: The 23rd Psalm
Ysaye Barnwell: Wanting Memories
Lee Hoiby: Last Letter Home
Irish Traditional: Danny Boy
Edvard Grieg: Brothers, Sing On!
Ludwig van Beethoven: Abschiedsgesang
Richard Peaslee: When I Would in Boyhood Muse
A.R. Rahman: Wedding Qawwalli
Leoš Janácek: Parting
Gerald Finzi: Thou Didst Delight My Eyes
Stephen Sametz: Not Heat Flames Up and Consumes from We Two