This Spring Break, two of Boston University’s singing groups will tour the Northeast. The Marsh Chapel Choir will be performing at Princeton University, and Kol Echad, a Jewish a cappella group, will head to Montreal, Toronto and Cornell University.
Last night, the Marsh Chapel Choir held an open dress rehearsal and reception before taking their show on the road with performances Saturday and Sunday in Princeton, N.J. The choir, led by interim organist and choirmaster Scott Jarrett, is composed of members of the BU community including undergraduates, graduate students and alumni.
The choir has a repertoire ranging from turn of the century gospel spirituals to Maurice Durufle’s Requiem, Opus No. 9, according to 1993 College of Liberal Arts graduate Ondine Brent.
Brent, a soprano, said Durufle’s Requiem, which will be the choir’s featured piece of music this weekend, is “tender” when compared to the requiems of other composers.
“The music is of a more conciliatory nature on behalf of the departed soul and those left behind,” said Jarrett, a graduate College of Fine Arts graduate student. “It has a gentleness that is beautiful and haunting with Gregorian chants as its foundation.”
Kol Echad’s more lighthearted mission is to spread Jewish culture wherever they go, performing traditional Jewish songs, Israeli pop and American pop songs with a Jewish slant, according to Jeremy Lowenstein, Kol Echad’s business director.
In past years, the group has toured over Spring Break in Maine, New York and, most recently, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Virginia Beach.
Lowenstein, a sophomore in the School of Management, said this year’s tour has been in the works since late November. The group will kick off its North American tour Saturday at Brandeis University with a performance at the quarterfinals of the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella Groups. Sunday, the group will travel to Montreal to perform at senior citizens’ homes and elementary schools.
The group will then head to Toronto Tuesday for a week-long Jewish festival at the University of Toronto called “Coloring Ourselves” and finally down to Cornell Friday for a performance with their counterparts there.
Lowenstein said he came to BU last year with little singing experience but wanted to join an a cappella group. During the Gala Shabbat dinner at Hillel House early his freshman year, Jeremy saw Kol Echad and was immediately interested.
“[It was] something I definitely want to be a part of,” he said.
Because the group receives no money from the Student Activities Office, they often perform outside BU to raise money, Lowenstein said. Kol Echad has also made three CDs, most recently, Tchotchke, which was released this fall.
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