April 27, 2008
Creating a musical "Circle of Celebration," Oklahoma Baptist University's Bisonette Glee Club will present its spring concert Tuesday, April 29, on the OBU campus.
The 38-member auditioned women's chorus will perform at 7:30 p.m. in Yarborough Auditorium on the lower level of OBU's Raley Chapel. The public is invited to the free concert.
Directed by Dr. Darla Eshelman, associate professor of music education, the Bisonette Glee Club will be concluding a series of concerts with the April 29 performance. The group's spring mini-tour, April 25-27, includes singing the National Anthem at the Kansas City Royals' home game versus the Toronto Blue Jays April 25, performing in a joint concert with the Moberly Area Community College Choirs in Moberly, Mo., April 26, and singing at North Park Baptist Church in Moberly, Mo., and Sapulpa High School in Sapulpa, Okla.
According to Eshelman, the group's April 29 concert repertoire "celebrates music, salvation, culture, love and hope." The opening piece is Norman Dello Joio's "A Jubilant Song," accompanied by Michael Dean, OBU assistant professor of piano. The concert also includes pieces by J.S. Bach, world music from Brazil, Argentina and India, and the contemporary classics "What a Wonderful World" and "Oh Happy Day." An arrangement of the traditional spiritual "Wade in the Water," along with Eshelman's "And God Gave Music," will conclude the concert.
The Bisonette Glee Club includes students from a variety of academic areas, including music, nursing, elementary education, psychology history, biology, biblical languages, communications, art education and physical therapy. The group was organized in 1954 by Dr. Warren M. Angell, longtime dean of OBU's College of Fine Arts.