Central Chamber Chorale’s spring concert series runs March 17-19

For Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD — The Central Chamber Chorale will present an encore performance of Dan Forrest’s “Requiem for the Living” with chamber orchestra at its upcoming spring concerts.

“Requiem” features three vocal solos, which are performed by soprano Janet Alekna of Wisconsin Rapids, boy soprano Mason Peckham of Marshfield, and tenor Thomas Bartow from Marshfield. The orchestra will be led by Timothy McCollum.

The components of a traditional requiem — in slightly altered order — are found in “Requiem for the Living,” but the composer combines the traditional with some very contemporary sources of inspiration, including images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Chorale will also perform “The Requiem” of Maurice Duruflé with piano and bass accompaniment of Linda and Bruce Feldt. The “Pie Jesu” movement features a mezzo-soprano solo performed by Nancy Young of Pittsville.

The first performance is on March 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in Wisconsin Rapids. There are also performances on March 18 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Medford and March 19 at 3 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church, 1208 W. 14th St. in Marshfield.

The concerts are open to the public without charge. This is the last Chorale concert series under the direction of Greg Reierson after 21 years as the musical director. It will also be the last series for accompanist Linda Feldt, who has been with the Chorale for 26 years.

The concert is sponsored, in part, by a grant from the Greg and Sally Rindfleisch Performing Arts Fund in the Marshfield Area Community Foundation, the Weathershield Lite foundation, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information about the Central Chamber Chorale, visit centralchamberchorale.org.