March 27, 2007 A Capella Choir Cantus To Perform on March 30

Cantus, a nine-member, all-male chamber chorus from Minneapolis, performs in concert at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 30, in the Coolidge Auditorium. Preceding the concert will be a panel discussion titled “Men, Let’s Sing: Choral Music for Men’s Voices” at 6:15 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion. Both locations are on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 101 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C.

Panelists for the preconcert presentation are Frank Albinder, director of the Washington Men’s Camerata; Ann Meier Baker, president of Chorus America; and Gunilla Marcus-Luboff and the Library’s Robert Saladini, co-developers of the Library of Congress Series of Choral Music, a collection of some 50 rare and out-of-print editions of choral works held in the Music Division and co-published by Walton Music Corp. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The speakers will address the state of men’s choral singing from their perspectives as performers, conductors and music publishers, as well as discuss the myriad men’s choral groups in the United States.

Admired for its “astonishing perfection of tone and diction,” Cantus will follow the panel discussion with a performance of works by Smokey Robinson, Gordon Lightfoot, Sting and Henry Cowell, along with chants from the Native American and Hawaiian religious traditions.

Co-sponsored by the Music Division and the John W. Kluge Center, the panel discussion and concert are free and open to the public. Tickets are required for the concert; they are distributed by Ticketmaster at (301) 808-6900 or (410) 752-1200 and are limited to two per call. Each ticket is free but carries a service charge of $2.75, with additional charges for phone orders and handling. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster.com. Although the supply of tickets may be exhausted, there are often empty seats at concert time. Interested patrons are encouraged to try for standby seats at the will-call desk in the Jefferson Building by 6:30 p.m. on concert evenings.