Glee club to sing during ceremony: Chamber Singers, Glee Club sing for grads, visitors, alums this weekend
This weekend's Commencement celebration featured Chamber Singer and Glee Club performances of a wide variety of music, ranging from well-loved, traditional Dartmouth melodies to African Freedom songs. In concerts on Friday and Saturday, the Chamber Singers and the Glee Club each performed a series of melodies. Most of the Chamber Singers' selections were from their Spring Concert, "Voices of Freedom," the group's President Dan Shaw '98 said. The songs from the Spring Concert included South African Freedom Songs and African American Spirituals, Director of the Chamber Singers Charles Houmard said. Houmard said the group also sang an Italian Madrigal, a work of high-poetry, often one about passionate love, set to music. The piece the Chamber singers performed featured lyrics from an Italian Renaissance poem and music composed by Matt Kramar '00, a member of the group. The group made a special effort to include favorites of its seniors, Molly Heath '98, Joseph Curtis '98 and Shaw, in their final performances. Two guests performed with the Chamber singers this weekend, Mezzo-soprano Erma Gattie sang a solo, and the director and a member of the World Music Percussion Ensemble accompanied the group. Houmard called the Chamber Singers' selections "uplifting." "We want to send graduates off in a high spirited frame of mind," he said. Shaw, who guest conducted one of the pieces, said the Chamber Singers' selections were "fun music." "It should be fun for [the audience] to listen to," he said.