This performance will feature The Master Singers of Worcester, conducted by Malcolm Halliday, pianist Olga Rogach and acclaimed Worcester vocalist Ru-Zelda Severin. Early fuguing tunes, Negro spirituals, Shaker hymns, colloquial folk songs, and poetic compositions will all explore the beautiful colors, textures and strong emotions created by the human voice. The Worcester Children's Chorus and the Worcester Youth Chorale will also be joining the Master Singers of Worcester on stage for the concert finale in choral works by America's most celebrated composer, Aaron Copland.

Tickets are all general admission: $15, $12 for students & seniors. Advanced ticket purchasers should contact the MSW website www.mswma.org or office at 508-842-1349. Concertgoers are encouraged to purchase tickets early as this is the final MSW concert event of a well-attended season.

"American Sampler represents a richly diverse offering of vocal music with real New England roots," said Malcolm Halliday, Artistic Director of the Master Singers of Worcester. "Keeping true to The Master Singers' mission of bringing rarely-performed, yet critically acclaimed works to Worcester audiences, these unpretentious melodies will inform the heart and mind.”

Works by noted 20th century composers Alice Parker, Charles Ives, and Aaron Copland will be highlighted. What is more American-folk-operatic than two songs from Copland’s “The Tender Land,” or more lyrical than Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poetry in Parker’s “Songstream”? Pulitzer Prize winner Ives creates an interesting musical experience with his unusual “Sixty-Seventh Psalm.”

Moses Hogan’s arrangements of Negro spirituals are not only great hymns, but also powerful songs of freedom. Norman Luboff’s “Deep River“ flows majestically with resonant low notes supplied by the Master Singers’ basses. “The Waking“ delivers the gentle mysticism of Theodore Roethke’s poetry in composer David Conte’s tribute to his high school alma mater.

Colonial American works by Continental Army fife and hat maker Timothy Swan defined psalmody in the New England 18th century singing-school tradition. Abraham Wood-himself a Continental Army drummer boy-developed his homophonic style as a resident of Northborough, MA. William Cutter, conductor of the MIT Concert Choir, arranged two settings of tunes from the United Society of Believers sect. More commonly known as the Shakers, this New England sect employed simple hymns, moving spirituals, and even dancing in their religious services.