Choral Concert at APSU Captures Wanderlust of Gypsies

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The wandering spirit of gypsies, with its wildness for adventure and its melancholy search for a home, will be presented through a moving evening of music on Nov. 16 by Austin Peay State University’s newest choral ensemble, The Governors Singers.

The concert “Gypsies on the Road,” which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Music/Mass Communication Concert Hall, and will feature such classic works of wanderlust as Robert Schumann’s “Zigeunerleben” and Johannes Brahms’ “Zigeunerlieder.”

“We’re doing six pieces in a short program, and it’s going to be a big challenge for the singers,” Korre Foster, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at APSU, said. “We’re doing German, we’re doing French and we’re doing English. But they’ve come a long way in preparing this music.”

The Governors Singers meet every Tuesday evening to rehearse, but each member spends hours on his or her own, working on pitch an enunciation.

“There are only 12 students in the ensemble, and it was created to be the closest pre-professional experience they could find,” Foster said. “It’s really good to push them and give them this experience, because as a vocal performance major, this is seriously a type of job they might get.”

The program’s gypsy-theme will touch on subjects as varied as travel and love, with the final piece of the evening offering a little optimism for the future.

“The idea of gypsies is they’ve always been traveling. There isn’t a home, per se,” Foster said. “But the last piece is called ‘The Road Home’ by Stephen Paulus.”

That work ends with the lines, “Rise up, follow me, I will lead you home.”

For more information on the concert or The Governors Singers, contact Foster at 221-7002 or fosterk@apsu.edu.

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Choral Concert at APSU Captures Wanderlust of Gypsies

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