St. Lawrence University’s Laurentian Singers will continue their annual Spring Break Tour, this year to New York and Boston, with a concert on Sunday, March 26 at 3:00 pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Society, 152 Pearl Street, Burlington, VT. The concert is free and open to the public. 

The Laurentian Singers, a select coeducational choir of 21 undergraduate singers, continues its 75-plus year tradition of choral excellence at St. Lawrence University. The group has won wide acclaim since its founding in 1946, and, in addition to their many performances on campus and in the North Country, the ensemble has toured extensively. In recent years, they have performed in San Francisco, New Orleans, Trinidad and Tobago, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico, singing for enthusiastic audiences and meeting with other choirs. Their wide-ranging repertoire, drawn from music of many styles and countries, reflects the spirit of the liberal arts experience at St. Lawrence. The Laurentian Singers include undergraduate students who represent a wide variety of academic majors and interests. 

This tour marks the end of director Barry Torres’ 25-year career at St. Lawrence. Coming full circle, he first directed the Laurentian Singers on tour at First Unitarian Universalist Society in March 1999.

The eclectic program begins with a set of sacred music from a five-century span featuring works by Felix Mendelssohn (Heilig), Johannes Ciconia (Gloria), Josquin DesPrez (Ave verum corpus) and William Byrd (Ne irascaris Domine). Two Italian Renaissance madrigals by Jacques Arcadelt (Il bianco e docle cigno) and Monteverdi (Non piú guerra) follow. LS alto Karni Keushgarian ’25 will lead the Singers in two Armenian folksongs (Chem grna and Ghapama. A West Side Story set follows featuring Tonight and Somewhere. The concert will close with two iconic American “feel good” songs, Lionel Richie’s All Night Long and the Beach Boys classic Good Vibrations. Keeping up a cherished tradition, the Laurentian Singers will invite alumni to join them in singing their beloved School Songs, including the Alma Mater, written by Hollywood songwriter and lyricist J.K. Gannon ’24.