Mu­sic De­part­ment Pre­sents “Eli­jah, Op. 70”

MISHAWAKA- On Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m., Bethel Uni­ver­si­ty’s Mu­sic De­part­ment hosted a con­cert in the Ever­est-Rohrer Au­di­to­rium as part of its fall con­cert se­ries. The con­cert fea­tured Bethel’s con­cert choir, cham­ber or­ches­tra and choral union. 

For this con­cert, the groups worked to­gether to per­form “Eli­jah, Op. 70,” com­posed by Fe­lix Mendelssohn and orig­i­nally pub­lished in 1846. The piece is di­vided into six parts and fol­lows the story of the prophet Eli­jah over the course of 23 songs. The telling of the story was aided through some on-screen nar­ra­tive and scrip­ture pas­sages. 

The choir and or­ches­tra were con­ducted by Pro­fes­sor of Mu­sic Vicky Warken­tien, D.M.M., with a por­tion con­ducted by a guest di­rec­tor, Dallin Bald­win, who is a part of the choir.  

The soloists who per­formed for the event are mem­bers of the Choral Union: Emily McAn­drew, Bethany Miller, Emanuel Cara­man and Jim Ben­nett. 

The songs ranged from melan­choly to up­beat, adding a va­ri­ety and un­pre­dictabil­ity to what was be­ing heard by the au­di­ence. Warken­tein dis­played con­fi­dence and ex­pe­ri­ence as a con­duc­tor, lead­ing her team to a well-done per­for­mance.  

The mu­sic choice dis­played the va­ri­ety of voices and abil­i­ties within the group, high­light­ing the four adults from the choral union in dis­tinct parts. Ben­net­t’s role as the prophet Eli­jah was pow­er­ful and mov­ing, em­pow­ered by his strong voice and stage pres­ence. The ex­per­tise ex­hib­ited by the soloists demon­strated both tal­ent and hard work, be­ing ex­e­cuted to near per­fec­tion.