SDSU Concert Choir to present ‘Untraveled Worlds’

The South Dakota State University Concert Choir, under the direction of Laura Diddle and guest conductor Phillip Swan, will present a spring choral concert, “Untraveled Worlds,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 22, at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center. 

Admission is free and open to the public. 

The concert features music inspired by the choir’s recent 14-day tour of Sweden and Norway. Highlights will be celebratory and hopeful pieces by female composers Elaine Hagenberg, Dale Trumbore and Amy Beach. 

A special choral tribute to the late Professor Emeritus Charles Canaan, who passed away in January 2024, is planned. One of Canaan’s favorite composers was British composer John Rutter. The choir will perform “Lux Aeterna” from Rutter’s Requiem in memory of and in tribute to Canaan. 

Featured faculty artists for this concert include clarinetist Michael Walsh on “Bright Cap and Streamers” by Colin Mawby and violinist Immanuel Abraham on Elaine Hagenberg’s “Caritas” and Paul Halley’s seven-minute masterwork “Untraveled Worlds.” 

A new element to this event is a guest conductor on the podium for the second half of the concert. Diddle welcomes Artist-in-Residence Phillip Swan from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music to conduct several pieces in this concert. 

Swan is an internationally recognized conductor with roots in South Dakota. Choirs under his direction have been selected to perform at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) regional and national conference. Nationally, Swan was a featured guest conductor for the 2018 Northwest ACDA Treble High School Honor Choir, the 2018 North Dakota Women's Honor Choir, the 2018 South Dakota All-State Choir and the 2019 South Dakota Junior Honor Choir. 

Swan has been in residence this past week with the Concert Choir, Statesmen and Choralia and conducting classes, bringing new ideas and techniques to the vocal and choral students at SDSU. 

For more information, contact the SDSU School of Performing Arts at 605-688-5187.