On the First Day of Spring

Today is the first day of spring. It is also Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. If these two phenomena put you in the mood to hear choral music, you are in luck. The Hope College Chapel Choir, now on its annual spring break tour, will be performing tonight at 7 p.m. at the Reformed Dutch Church of Claverack.

Full disclosure: Gossips is an alumna of Hope College in Holland, Michigan. In my college days, the Chapel Choir was an elite group of choristers at a college with a very respectable music department, and I don't think that has changed over the decades. 

The choir's appearance in Claverack is part of the Reformed Dutch Church's Tercentennial Celebration (1716-2016). The 42-member choir will be performing a selection of sacred and secular choral music, including the premiere of "I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes," a work by Robert Schafer, and Brahms' Zigeunerlieder.

The Reformed Dutch Church is located at 88 Route 9H in Claverack.
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