Heinz Chapel Choir

Today 5:15 p.m.

Heinz… Heinz Chapel Choir

Today 5:15 p.m.

Heinz Chapel

Admission: free

Though their other concerts are sold out, the Heinz Chapel Choir will perform one free concert on Pitt’s campus today.

The choir formed in 1938 as part of the religious services in Heinz Chapel. It became a University concert choir in the 1950s, which meant that rather than just singing religious songs, the choir began to perform pieces from almost every genre, said John Goldsmith, the choir director.

Songs this year include “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” and “When You Believe,” a song from the movie “The Prince of Egypt.”

Junior Sarah Ivins joined the choir as a freshman when she auditioned for one of 12 seats available at the time. A singer since a young age, it was important to her to remain active in a musical group. The upcoming Christmas concerts are Ivins’ favorite choir events.

“Performing in the Heinz Chapel provides fantastic acoustics and a beautiful setting in which to sing,” she said. “The Holiday Concert tradition is to begin the concert in the balcony, with more traditional choral pieces. Then we move down to the floor and surround the audience with lanterns, singing as the lights outside the Chapel are turned on, illuminating the brilliant stained glass windows.”

The choir also performs four other concerts in addition to the free performance, but don’t look for tickets to those events  — they sold out early.

“We always have a full house, even off campus,” Goldsmith said. “The reputation has been spreading for a long time now. When people come once, they come back because they enjoy it so much. Tickets are on sale in October and they’re gone [in three weeks] because this is a family tradition and people won’t miss the Christmas concerts.”

-by Larissa Gula, Staff Writer

Pitt Men’s Glee Club

First Baptist Church, located on the corner of North Bellefield Avenue and Bayard Street

Friday 8 p.m.

Admission: free with Pitt ID

Proartstickets.org

With multiple languages, 60 members and various styles of music, this year’s Annual Holiday Concert performed by the Pitt Men’s Glee Club offers a broad selection of holiday music .

This Friday at the First Baptist Church, the 121-year-old Pitt Men’s Glee Club will sing itsmulticultural songs.

“You’ve got a mostly a cappella concert featuring music from the classical period up to modern, American, holiday classics, and also some carols from around the world,” director Richard Teaster said.

The performance features songs sung in five languages: English, French, German, Latin and Church Slavonic, a dialect of Russian. The group found Church Slavonic particularly difficult to master due to the language’s antiquity.

Friday’s concert will be the second time the club performs by candlelight.

“It gives a nice aura on a winter evening in Pittsburgh,” the group’s president, Jared Wilson, said.

The performance is free to students with a Pitt ID, but Teaster and Wilson encourage students to get their tickets prior to the performance at the William Pitt Union box office. Students who arrive at the door are not guaranteed seating.

-by Anna Weldon, Staff Writer

Sounds of Pleasure

Friday 8 p.m.

David Lawrence Hall 120

Admission: free

Sounds of Pleasure’s performance this Friday is not a Christmas concert.

“We have one concert every semester, and this is our fall concert,” said Sounds of Pleasure’s president, Molly Hackman. “It just happens to be close to Christmas.”

Sounds of Pleasure is an all-female a cappella group that performs unaccompanied arrangements of popular songs in an effort to appeal to college students.

“We sing anything from Coldplay to Radiohead to Rihanna,” Hackman said.

But singing is never the only thing on Sounds of Pleasure’s program. The ladies also promise dancing, skits and a guest group from Carnegie Mellon University.

“We like to have fun,” singer Dashanna Terry said.

“We like to perform,” Hackman agreed. “We like to put on a show for everyone.” Of the dancing, she admits, “It’s not a choreographed dance, but we do like to dance around.”

Terry is most looking forward to performing “Because” by The Beatles.

“It’s an awesome song, I just love it,” she said. “We’re also singing ‘Don’t Stop Believin.’ I’m sure the audience is going to love that, they’ll probably sing along — which can be annoying, but at the same time, it’s great.”

-by Tracey Hickey, Staff Writer

C Flat Run (with guests Sounds of Pleasure and trombone choir Bigelow Bones)

Public Health Building

Sunday 8 p.m.

Admission: free

C Flat Run may be the smallest a capella group at Pitt, but the members say they have some big voices.

Director Sean Malloy said the co-ed group, which has eight members, tries to showcase each of its singers’ voices.

“All of our music is arranged by members of the group,” he said, “and every member sings their own solo song at some point.”

That each member belongs to numerous choral ensembles around campus adds a more dynamic element to the group, said Ethan Miller, president of C Flat Run.

Malloy said what sets the group apart is its original compositions, a genre-mashing mix of popular hits and original compositions.

“We’ll be performing 12 new songs at our concert, covering as many genres as possible,” Malloy said. “Unlike other a cappella groups, about half of our music is composed of popular songs, and about half of our music will be new to the audience.”

While C Flat Run will feature a few Christmas songs in its performance, Malloy admits that the group tried to keep the song selection more varied.

This will be C Flat Run’s first official fall semester concert, since the group became an official student organization only last year.

“We plan on covering a wide variety of songs at this year’s Winter Concert,” Miller said. “I can’t really say too much without giving away some of the fun, but we’ll be putting on several songs that I’m sure everyone around here knows and loves in addition to a spread of less familiar pieces that really are a ton of fun.”

C Flat Run will host guest groups Sounds of Pleasure and Bigelow Bones.

-by Liz Keeney, Staff Writer