Chorale offers second spring concert

The Pend Oreille Chorale and Orchestra will present the second of its spring concerts Sunday.

The concert will be a matinee event at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 9, at First Lutheran Church on Olive and Ontario in Sandpoint.   

The program has a great variety of composers and styles, including 16th-century madrigals that open the concert, singing about music and the fickleness of love. Following those is a lyrical piece by the romantic composer Johannes Brahams, again about love. Then the chorale shifts to a well-known traditional spiritual “Hold On!”

Flute soloist Alisha Dawson accompanied by Caren Reiner follows, playing the well-known “Fantasy” by Gabriel Faure closing the first half. 

After a brief intermission, the middle movement of the Italian Symphony, No. 4, by Felix Mendelssohn, opens the second half. This is followed by a newly written trio by Mark Reiner featuring flutist Alisha Dawson, violinist Gayle McCutchan, and violist Marcy Hogan. “This piece is a whimsical contrast to ‘Be Still,'” said composer Mark Reiner. Two pieces from “Frostiana” by Randall Thompson use the evocative poetry of Robert Frost. Men’s chorus will sing “The Pasture,” and the women’s chorus will sing “A Girl’s Garden.”

Ending the concert is the premiere of “Be Still” for chorale and orchestra. “This piece represents humanity’s overcoming of the frantic, anxiety producing mindset prevalent in the world today. The orchestra takes the part of the restless, anxious mind while the chorale symbolizes the stillness and peace of spiritual perception,” said composer Mark Reiner.