SU Musical Groups Perform for Small Miracle Foundation Friday, November 12

SALISBURY, MD---Safety, health and heating are three necessary components of a comfortable home. These basic necessities, however, are out of reach for some residents of Worcester County.

The Small Miracle Foundation provides assistance to families lacking such necessities—and now, Salisbury University is helping that organization help others.

The SU Chorale, Salisbury Chorale, Opera Workshop and Musical Theatre Workshop join the Community Church Chancel Choir for a concert to benefit the Small Miracle Foundation. The concert is 7 p.m. Friday, November 12, at the Community Church in Ocean Pines, MD.

The program includes scenes from the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, Misa Criolla and Rent, and the “Hallelujah!” chorus from Messiah.

The SU ensembles are under the direction of Dr. William Folger, director of choral studies; Dr. Darrell Mullins, Rent stage director; Leigh Usilton, choreographer; and John Wesley Wright, opera director and tenor soloist.

Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by NBC, it was and first performed on December 24, 1951, at NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center. Broadcast live as the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, it was the first opera specifically composed for television in the United States.

Ariel Ramirez’s Misa Criolla is a mass for tenor, described by The Washington Post as “a stunning artistic achievement, combined Spanish text with indigenous instruments and rhythms.” Ramirez said the work was inspired by a visit to Germany after World War II, where he had an encounter with a group of nuns, leading him to consider writing a spiritual piece.

Rent, Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, based on Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème, tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

George Frideric Handel’s Messiah was composed in London during the summer of 1741 and premiered in Dublin, Ireland, on April 13, 1742. The spiritual classic, popular during the Christmas season of Advent, tells the story of Jesus.

A free-will offering will be taken. The public is invited. For tickets and more information call 410-641-5433.