Chorus presents annual Winter Concert

Nov. 15, 2019 | Department of Music |

The Harding University Chorus, under the direction of Dr. Cliff Ganus III, will present its annual Winter Concert in Harding's Administration Auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m.

The mixed chorus of 60 members specializes in singing sacred, unaccompanied music. Their repertoire for the evening will include spirituals and hymn arrangements; works by Gretchaninoff, Rachmaninoff, and Holst; and the “Alleluia” and “Antiphon” of Randall Thompson, who is often referred to as the “Dean of American Choral Composers.”

The Chorus makes a number of trips during each school year and will tour through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee in January. In alternating summers the chorus travels overseas, working with churches to promote their activities and to strengthen community relations. The group has sung in 37 countries, performing in such major venues as the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy; the Chopin monument in Warsaw, Poland; and the Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. Next summer’s campaigns will take them to work with local churches in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and France.

They have been the collegiate honor choir at the Arkansas All-State Conference in 2013, 2016, and 2019 and will appear at the Southwest Division Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in March 2020.

Ganus is a professor of music at Harding and a 1966 alumnus of the University. In addition to directing the chorus, he teaches music history, hymnology and conducting. He has twice received a Distinguished Teacher Award from the University.