DURANT—The Southeastern Chorale, the premier choral ensemble of Southeastern Oklahoma State University, will embark on its annual Winter Tour, Jan. 4-9, 2010.

With performances planned in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, this tour will mark the first time the Chorale has toured extensively outside the Oklahoma and Texas region.

In addition, the Southeastern Chorale will continue its tradition of performance in high schools in support of music education, and will be featured in concert each evening in area churches.

Through performances at Carnegie Hall, the National Endowment for the Arts Choral Symposiums, and regional and state choral events, the Southeastern Chorale has brought recognition and distinction to Southeastern Oklahoma State University and the Texoma region. The Chorale has been afforded the opportunity to perform with some of the world’s most noted choral ensembles and conductors, and has been featured in master classes and clinics with Anonymous Four, Quink, Chanticleer, and Conspirare and/or their conductors.

The Southeastern Chorale has at its core a mission to advance and support choral music in the region, while striving to maintain a tradition of singing excellence. In support of this goal, the Southeastern Chorale tours annually into area schools, having performed in more than 100 schools in Oklahoma and Texas over the past eight years.

The Chorale performs under the direction of Dr. Stacy Weger, who has served as Director of Choral Activities at Southeastern for the past nine years. Weger is a native Mississippian, holding both bachelor and master degrees in Music Education from the University of Southern Mississippi. He received his doctorate in musical arts in choral conducting at the University of Texas at Austin.

Titled Missa Harmonia Sarcalogos, the concert tour will present works within the structure of a traditional Mass. The works themselves, however, vary from sacred to secular, from contemporary to Renaissance motets. The Mass has long been a major cornerstone for choral composition.

A feature of the concert will be the presentation of “Of Fire and The Rose,” a piece commissioned to mark Southeastern’s Centennial. Composed by internationally known composer David Childs, the text comes from T.S. Eliot’s Little Gidding from Four Quartets. Other highlights include O Vos Omnes by Alberto Ginastera, 1st Katisma by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Hope, Faith, Life, Love by Eric Whitacre, and Psalm of Life by Craig Hella Johnson. Each section of the concert will begin with a solo styling of a hymn tune from The Christian Harmony, published in 1873.

Tour locales and times include:

January 4 — First United Methodist Church, Sherman, Texas, 7:30 p.m.

January 5 — First Assembly of God, Monroe, LA, 7:30 p.m.

January 6 — Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Vicksburg, Miss., 2 p.m.

January 6 — Broadmeadow United Methodist Church, Jackson Miss., 7 p.m.

January 7 — Bay Street Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, Miss., 7 p.m.

January 8 — St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, LA - 1:30 p.m.