Casper College Choirs to Join Wyoming Symphony
Casper College Choirs have been invited to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Welsh Auditorium in Casper on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
A portion of the Casper Civic Chorale will also be included.
This ticketed event will be available via Livestream, too. Tickets for the live performance vary from $47 to $26 dollars. Tickets for the Livestream are free.
Two of the soloists are local: Veronica Turner, a voice instructor at the college, and Emily Quintana, who sings with Opera Wyoming.
Turner said that she is nervous and excited because it is her first time performing a solo in a symphony as a non-student, which was one of her goals. Also, when she was young she remebered that her hometown did not have a huge classical music scene, but she can remember that the one piece of classical music her father would listen to was Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, otherwise rock. "So, it's extra special."
K2Radio News asked some of the Casper College Chorale members how they were feeling leading up to this weekend.
Johsua Knudson said, "Excited...and also petrified." "Proud" said Sam Orr.
Adora Bradley added, "Extremely nervous." Another said, "Extremely honored to be singing Beethoven."
Paula Flint explained that the most exciting aspect of the symphony is coming together. Typically they practice in small choirs, but the night before the main event, everyone joins.
The choir told K2Radio News that Beethoven is challenging to sing, especially for sopranos. "He wasn't kind" they joked.
"We're a funky bunch" said Josilyn Miller. "We welcome all people, whether you know how to read music or not. As long as you love music...the more the merrier!"
Director Vreeman said, "to sing this kind of stuff [Beethoven] rarely happens at the two-year school level. That's really special to me."
He also said, "This concert was originally planned for December 2020, but didn't happen until now."
According to the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, they will be joined by choirs throughout Wyoming, including Gillette Chamber Singers, Sheridan College Chamber Choir, Wyoming Choral Arts, to bring this mass symphony to life.
According to Rhode Island’s Philharmonic Orchestra and Music School, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 was the first historical example of a significant composition using voices in a symphony. The final movement of the symphony features four vocal soloists and a chorus. The text was adapted from the “Ode to Joy,” a poem written by Friedrich Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with additional text written by Beethoven.
“The piece that was chosen feels very fitting because the students will be singing about love, joy, brotherhood, and unity,” The Director of Sheridan College's Choir said. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work but I think the students are aware of how special this collaboration will be."