Centre Choir to Perform Requiem RELEASED: Feb. 6, 2001 DANVILLE, KY- The Centre College Choir will present a choral concert on Saturday, February 24 at 8 p.m. in Newlin Hall at the Norton Center for the Arts. The Choir will perform "Requiem" by John Rutter, one of the most popular composers and arrangers of choral music alive today, and the "Antiphon" from the "Five Mystical Songs" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Special guest director, Paul McGahie, will conduct. The event is free and open to the public. The Requiem text, or Mass for the Dead, has been the source for some of the most profoundly conceived compositions in the history of Western music. Based on the recognition of earthly death and the hope of eternal life, the text has inspired such composers as Mozart and Verdi to create works of unsurpassed beauty. While still incorporating parts of the traditional Requiem text, Rutter also chose text from the "1662 Book of Common Prayer." Director McGahie describes the work as, "gorgeously lyric and evocative, with many beautiful moments mirroring the overall mood of reassurance of heavenly resurrection." Premiered in 1985 in America, the piece combines choir, organ and orchestral chamber ensemble of harp, cello, flute, oboe and percussion. Dr. Jeffrey Jones from The Presbyterian Church of Danville will be the organist. Director Paul McGahie is completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral and Orchestral Conducting at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. He has been active as a conductor, chorus master and teacher for two decades. He served as Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor at Pensacola Junior College in Pensacola, Fla. He founded the Cleveland Choral Artists, a professional chamber choir. -end-   Communications Office Centre College 600 W. Walnut Street Danville, KY 40422