CSB/SJU Music Department Presents Concert Celebrating Mozart’s 250th Birthday

04/07/2006

The College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University music department will present a concert celebrating Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 250th birthday at 8 p.m., Friday, April 21, in the Great Hall on the SJU campus, Collegeville. Mozart's 250th birthday was on January 27, but CSB/SJU will celebrate this special anniversary with a concert dedicated almost exclusively to music of this great master.

The CSB/SJU Chamber Choir, SJU Men’s Chorus, the Amadeus Chamber Symphony, soprano Patricia Kent, and Richard Witteman '89 and Jason Parker on trumpet, will perform under the direction of Axel Theimer, CSB/SJU professor of music.

Theimer will be directing some of Mozart’s most beloved choral works, including “Te Deum,” “Salve Regina,” “Laudate Dominum” (from the “Solemn Vespers”) and a brief piece, “Scande Coeli Limina,” composed for the Feast of Saint Benedict.

The Amadeus Chamber Symphony will perform Mozart’s “First Symphony,” composed when Mozart was eight years old. Antonio Vivaldi’s “Concerto in C-major for two trumpets and orchestra” will highlight a trumpet duo by Witteman and Parker. Kent will be soloist in the well known “Laudate Dominum” and “Scande coeli limina.”

The CSB/SJU Chamber Choir, an ensemble of 50 singers, and the Saint John’s Men’s Chorus, an ensemble of 40 members, are two of three auditioned choral groups at the two colleges. Each of the choirs tour extensively, performing in concerts throughout Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Wyoming. The group has also traveled on extended tour throughout Asia.

Theimer will complete his 37th year of teaching at CSB/SJU. During his time at CSB/SJU, Theimer founded the Amadeus Chamber Symphony, now in its 16th year.

Tickets are $11 for adults and $7 for senior citizens, CSB/SJU faculty, staff, students and alumnae/i. Tickets can be purchased at the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater ticket office on the SJU campus, or by calling 320-363-3577. Tickets can also be purchased at the Benedicta Arts Center ticket office on the CSB campus, or by calling 320-363-3577.  Tickets may also be purchased at the door the night of the performance.