The UGA Choral Project Spring Concert “Serenade to Music” will be presented by the Hugh Hodgson School of Music on Friday, January 13, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. The performance will be in Ramsey Concert Hall at the UGA Performing Arts Center, 230 River Road, Athens, GA 30602. This performance is free and open to the public.
Central to this performance is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ moving ode to sweet harmony, “Serenade to Music.” Originally written for 16 soloists, the piece features each singer in a brief solo. The text comes from Act V of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” Vaughan Williams merged four characters’ lines into one invitation to notice the stillness of the night and to “let the sounds of music creep in our ears.”
The UGA Choral Project started in 2019 in an effort to provide students with a near-professional, project-based choral experience during their study at UGA. Professional choral singing is growing in scope and popularity around the world, and usually operates on a project model, where singers from all over the country learn the music on their own, travel to a city, rehearse intensely for several days, perform, and then scatter again. Choral Project seeks to imitate this project model, with an intense week of rehearsals that culminates in this free concert.