Kammerstreicher Ensemble

Kammerstreicher Ensemble

Two Wartburg College music ensembles will perform at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church on Saturday, Feb. 11.
Castle Singers 2016-17

Castle Singers 2016-17



The 7:30 p.m. show will feature Wartburg’s Castle Singers and Kammerstreicher and the Hempstead High School Chamber Choir under the direction of Teresa Slade. Free-will offerings will be accepted to support future Wartburg tours.

Ryley Seymour, a freshman from Bellevue, is a Castle Singers member.

Selections will include the premiere of a madrigal for voices and strings penned by Jacob Tews, Wartburg’s Kammerstreicher conductor. The piece is an “energetic and humorous fairy tale sung in nonsensical English, which becomes understandable only when heard.”

“We are thrilled to continue the collaboration between the Kammerstreicher and the Castle Singers that began last year,” Tews said. “I am continually amazed by the artistry of the musicians involved in the ensembles and encouraged by their fun-loving, joyful personalities.”

The Castle Singers program includes Gerald Finzi’s “My Spirit Sang All Day” and a collection of folk songs that includes “Rise Up, O Men of God” by Kenneth Jennings and “Softly and Tenderly” by René Clausen. The concert will conclude with U2’s “Without You” and The Manhattan Transfer’s “Operator.”

On this tour, the Kammerstreicher will be represented by a quintet that will perform Percy Fletcher’s “Folk Tune and Fiddle Dance,” Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” and a Hungarian dance by Johannes Brahms.

The Wartburg College Castle Singers has been hailed as a model of musicianship since its inception in 1950. Under the direction of Nicki Bakko Toliver, this chamber ensemble continues to prepare a wide variety of repertoire from Byrd to The Beatles and beyond.

Kammerstreicher, the college’s chamber string orchestra, was formed in 2014. Repertoire for the group includes Baroque and classical works, standard string orchestra pieces and arrangements of songs by the Beatles and Radiohead. Kammerstreicher even branches into the realm of improvisation, exploring jazz and bluegrass alongside contemporary classical improvisations.