Concert Program

Large Ensemble Concert Series

Fall Choral Collage Concert

NIU Concert Choir
NIU University Chorus
NIU Chamber Choir

Eric Johnson, director, NIU Chamber Choir and Concert Choir
Mary Lynn Doherty, director, University Chorus

Thursday, October 16, 2025
7 p.m.
Boutell Memorial Concert Hall

 

Program

Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra

Te Deum for Empress Marie Therese Franz Joseph Hadyn (1732-1809)

Translation

We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim: continually do cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty: of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles: praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs: praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world: doth acknowledge thee;
The Father: of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true: and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.

Thou art the King of Glory: O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son: of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man:

thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death:
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God: in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come: to be our Judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants:

whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints: in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine heritage.
Govern them: and lift them up for ever.
Day by day: we magnify thee; And we worship thy Name:

ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord: to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us: have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Chamber Choir

Jacob Morgan and John Wolf, Percussion

I Hate and I Love Dominic Argento (1927-2019)
  I. I Hate and I Love
II. Let us live, my Claudia and let us love
III. Greetings, miss, with nose not small
IV. My woman says she will be no one’s
V. Was it a Lioness from the mountains of Libya
VI. You promise me, my dearest life
VII. Wretched Catullus, put an end to this madness
VIII. I Hate and I Love
 

Chamber Choir

Rachel Yasutaki, Graduate Conductor

The Dance (from Bavarian Highlands, Op. 27, No. 1) Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

 

University Chorus

Consecrate the Place and Day Lloyd Pfautsch (1921-2003)
Cantate Domino Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)
Sing Unto the Lord (Psalm 96: 1-3)

Translation

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth and bless his name. Proclaim his promise of salvation from day to day. Proclaim his glory to all nations and his mighty acts to all peoples.

Heart of Earth Shruthi Rajeskar (b. 1996)
Text by Laura Purdie Salas (b. 1966)

Concert Choir

Father Thunder (Latvian folk song) Laura Jēkabsone (b. 1985)
Spiritual Ysaÿe M. Barnwell (b. 1946)
Higher Ground Stevie Wonder (b. 1950)
arr. Matt and Adam Podd
Sit Down, Servant arr. Marques L.A. Garrett (b. 1984)

Personnel

Haydn Chamber Orchestra

Violin
Javier Polania
Sally Waterhouse

Viola
Jacob Seabrook

Cello
Sofia Vrettou

Flute
Violet Whelchel

Oboe
Carly Jackson
Amanda Fuji

Bassoon
Charlie Shilhavy
Cailey Szostak

Trumpets
Matthew Harvey
Julian Hernandez
Willow Connolly

Horn
Madeline Miller
Ashley Esser

Percussion
Connor Butler

Organ
Minjung Kim

NIU University Chorus

Ziming Yan, Accompanist

Soprano
Emily Bauer
Vicky Gonzalez
Skyla Johnson
Giavanna Mayotte
Brooke Sleigher
Katie Vidmar
Alto
Anne Bishop
Rashunda Dorset-Headley
Talia Grzelak
Isabella Jaimes
Lux Moone
Gracie Raab
Meghan Rault
Jayda Thompson
Tenor
Jonathan Arroyo
Aidan Boyer
Mason Brooks
Bryn Callahan
Jalen Charles
Kye Daranikone
Brayden Dulin
Alex Hager
Sean Hamilton
Yari Taylor
Bass
Christian Barraza
Colton Dean
Quinten Force
Brennyn Ford
Gabe Greenfield
Angel Morales
Hunter Otgontseren
Everett Wright
NIU Chamber Choir

Yuxi Qui, Accompanist
Kayla Lockhart
Rachel Yasutaki
Emily Kmetz
Maia Orlovsky
Sarah Calgaro
Isabella Froh
Kayti Miller
Allison Wilson
Matthew Ellis
EmVi Legaspi
Joseph Quaynor
Matthew Skirmont
Daniel Chukwunyem
Eli Clark
Georgie Dimitrov
Lucas Smardo
NIU Concert Choir 

Minjung Kim, Accompanist

Soprano
Mikayla Ahren
Kaylie Emmer
Maggie Garner
Emily Kmetz
Maia Orlovsky
Chenoa Randolph
Kyla Reisenbichler
Willow Sabani
Thalila Sisou
Olivia Yedinak
Kaleigh Wicknick
Tenor
Serge Dulang
Matthew Ellis
Jake Foland
Eduardo Garcia
Jacob Lawver
EmVi Legaspi
Joseph Quaynor
A.J. Villa
Alto
Rain Anzaldua
Amelia Arndt
Lexus Bovensiep
Sarah Calgaro
Sondos Hassan
Jessic Holtz
Lyric Johnson
Jazmine Link
Kayti Miller
Allison Wilson
Chloe Weeks
Bass
Eli Clarke
Georgi Dimitrov
Bradley Kuhn
Gunnar Magnuson
Lucas Smardo
Emerson Valyou
Nolan Valyou
Erik Vazquez

Bios

Assistant Director of the School of Music
Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music Education

Mary Lynn Doherty is the assistant director of the School of Music and the coordinator of music education at Northern Illinois University, where she teaches choral and general music methods, supervises student teachers, works with undergraduate and graduate students as well as area music educators at all levels and conducts the University Chorus.

In 2020, Doherty was awarded the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. She has also been nominated for NIU’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award four times, representing the School of Music and the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Doherty has been invited to conduct ILMEA District choirs (elementary, middle and high school) eight times as well as serving as the conductor of the Rockford High School All-City Honor Choir, the Big Northern Conference Honor Choir, the Little Ten High School Choral Festival, the West Suburban Women’s Festival Choir, the North Central Junior Conference Honor Choir, the Women’s Honor Choir at the UW-Madison Summer Youth Music Camp and numerous district festival choirs.

Doherty was the director of NIU’s Community School of the Arts Children’s Choir from 2008-2016, earning grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to fund commissions and residences with internationally renowned composers and conductors. She is on the Illinois Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance Committee and serves as the NIU host of the Summer CMP Workshop. Prior to coming to NIU, she was the director of music education and associate conductor for the Choir Academy of the Chicago Children’s Choir.

Doherty’s research is on vocal health issues experienced by music teachers and she has presented her work both nationally and internationally as well as being published in The Choral Journal and the Journal of Voice. She is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the American Choral Directors Association, the National Voice Foundation and the American Organization of Kodaly Educators. She received her Master of Music degree and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in Music Education degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Luther College. Her mentors include Judy Hanson, Brett Goad, Gerald Olson and Weston Noble.

Professor and Coordinator of Choral Activities

Eric A. Johnson, D.M.A., is the director of choral activities at Northern Illinois University and the founding artistic director of Cor Cantiamo. As a 2019 National Endowment for the Arts Artworks grant recipient, he has been recognized for his artistic leadership, whose ensembles represent “choral artistry at its finest” (Lauridsen). He is a committed champion of contemporary choral music and dedicated to addressing social justice issues through interdisciplinary concert events. Johnson is the 2020 recipient of the Harold Decker Award, given by the Illinois American Choral Directors Association to celebrate his career of quality leadership and service to the art of choral music.

Ensembles under his direction have performed at multiple national and division conventions for the National Collegiate Choral Organization, American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators National Conference. He has served as a guest conductor at Avery Fisher Hall and the David Geffen Hall; Lincoln Center, toured internationally and prepared choruses for collaborations with professional orchestras.

Internationally, Johnson has served as a guest conductor of the Clare College Chapel Choir (Cambridge, England) and the Asian Pacific Activities Conference Choral Festival (Guangzhou, China); taught at Makumira University (Arusha, Tanzania); the Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (Natal, Brazil); and directed guest choral residencies at Canterbury and Worcester Cathedrals.

As the artistic director of Cor Cantiamo, Johnson has recorded commercial CDs released on the Divine Arts and Centaur Records labels. He has collaborated with many leading composers of our time including Dominick DiOrio, Stacey Gibbs, Libby Larsen, Morten Lauridsen, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Timothy C. Takach, Sir John Tavener and James Whitbourn.

Johnson has published music with Santa Barbara Music Publishing, served as a music editor for Earthsongs Publications and has published articles in the Choral Journal. He is active nationally as a clinician and guest conductor for high school and collegiate honor choirs and regularly conducts choral/orchestral masterworks works with both collegiate and professional ensembles.

Tickets

Tickets for School of Music concerts are available online only. There are prices for adults, seniors, faculty and staff and non-NIU students. NIU students are admitted free of charge to all performances with pre-reserved tickets. Most recitals are not ticketed.

Programs

Livestream

Most NIU concerts and recitals are available to watch on our livestream.

Upcoming Events

The NIU College of Visual and Performing arts puts on more than 200 live performances and exhibitions every year. See what’s coming up next in the School of Music, School of Art and Design, School of Theatre and Dance and the NIU Art Museum.