USM Southern Chorale and Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra Perform "IN HER WORDS" at Carnegie Hall April 23

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Southern Chorale and the Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra will be performing with the Rutgers University Voorhees Choir, IN HER WORDS, a concert featuring the U.S. premiere of Moorland Elegies by Kõrvits on April 23 at 8 p.m. in New York City's Carnegie Hall.

IN HER WORDS is a dedication to women composers and poets including the U.S. premiere of “Moorland Elegies” by Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits, with text by Emily Brontë. A special documentary of “Moorland Elegies” will be shown with Kõrvits giving comments and answering questions at 6 p.m. just before the performance.

The highlight of the concert, “Moorland Elegies” is an award-winning nine-part cycle based on a collection of poems. “[It] is a journey into the darkest, most mysterious corners of loneliness: to where one doesn't dare to peek twice,” said the Composer Kõrvits about the piece.

Other pieces being performed are Jocelyn Hagen's “Moon Goddess”, David Brunner's “All I Was Doing Was Breathing”, Andrea Clearfield's “The Shape of My Soul”, J. David Moore's “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, Barber's “Adagio for Strings” and the world premiere of Colin Britt's “Imagination”.

The Southern Chorale will be conducted by Dr. Gregory Fuller, while the Southern Mississippi Orchestra will be conducted by Dr. Michael Miles.

Fuller is the Director of Choral Activities at USM where he conducts the Southern Chorale and the Hattiesburg Choral Union. In 2004, Fuller launched the first Southern Invitational Choral Conference; an event that now hosts over eighty institutions each September.

Kõrvits is considered a rising star of Estonian contemporary music, having had music performed by various ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Kõrvits has also received numerous awards including the Heino Eller Music Prize, the Young Artist Prize by the Board of the President's Cultural Foundation, and the Lepo Sumera Award for Composition.

“His music carries the listener along on hypnotic journeys through the landscapes of nature and folk tradition, human soul, and subconscious,” stated the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

Part of the performance will repeat as part of the Symphony Orchestra season finale, “Music of the Night,” on Tuesday, April 30 at Main Street Baptist Church. For tickets, call (800) 844-8425, (601) 266-5418, or go to southernmisstickets.com.

For more information, contact Dr. Gregory Fuller at (601) 266-4092 or at gregory.fullerFREEMississippi.