ALAMOSA — The voices of the Adams State Chamber Choir and the Valley Community Concert Choir (VCCC) will take to the stage at Richardson Hall on the Adams State University campus in a concert tonight.

The performance will begin with the Valley Community Choir singing a rendition of “Ave Verum Corpus,” by W. A. Mozart. Earlier this week, this reporter was invited to attend a choir rehearsal that began with this work composed in 1791. Under the direction of David Schneider, the choir sang an ethereal and transcendental rendition that will uplift the audience tonight.

A wide variety of repertoire from the Renaissance period to the modern age, on diverse subjects including the sacred; times of reflection and peace; celebrating joy; contemplating the universe and our place on earth; words of acceptance and self-empowerment; and words of hope and perseverance will be performed.

Schneider told the Valley Courier, “The last time the ASU Chamber Choir and the Valley Community Concert Choir sang together was in November of 2019, the last season the VCCC sang concerts. As the VCCC is back to singing again, we are honored to be back with the Chamber Choir for our first concert in four years. This concert is a celebration of what choral music brings to the participant and audience alike, and that choral music belongs to people of all ages, musical interests, and skill levels.” The community group will also sing “Time to Be,” by Bethany Meyer.

In a statement to the Valley Courier, Colorado Springs composer Bethany Meyer said, “I am thrilled to hear that the Valley Community Concert Choir will be singing ‘Time to Be’ at their upcoming concert. This piece was written four years ago to honor Valley Chamber Choir's long-time accompanist Caleb Clark. Written around the idea of time moving forward, it is interesting to note that when this piece was premiered in 2020, it featured a (small but mighty!) skeleton crew of singers due to the COVID pandemic. How exciting that time has indeed moved on and that this work will be performed on a much larger scale four years later! I wish the Valley Community Concert Choir the best in their continuing endeavors.”

The Adams State University Chamber Choir will present the second portion of the concert under the direction of Beth Robinson, Department of Music Co-Chair and Director of Choral Activities, who will open with “Circa Mea,” a composition by Mark Burrows and includes text from the 12th century Carmina Burana.

Robinson said of the concert, “It is so wonderful to have the Valley Community Concert Choir back together again! The ASU Chamber Choir is excited to be performing with them and the program reflects a wide range of styles and perspectives that I think the audience will enjoy. Two pieces of note that the Chamber Choir is singing are ‘Calling from Afar,’ by James Eakin III, which was inspired by images sent back from the James Webb Space Telescope; and ‘All of Me,’ by Kyle Pederson, which talks about being accepted for who we are and not the labels we are given.”

The program includes the work “TaReKiTa,” by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail who said of the work, “I wrote ‘TaReKiTa’ as a gift for a choir called Urban Voices Project. They are a choir of people who are or currently have experienced hopelessness on Skid Row in Los Angeles. They are so dear to me, and one day I just decided to teach them about Indian rhythm." The alliterative work is sung in the Kannada language.

The concert is on Friday, April 19, at 7 p.m., in Richardson Hall at Adams State University in Alamosa. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for K-12 students, and seniors.