I Cantori on tour

WWU select choir, I Cantori, scheduled for seven performances in Oregon

The Walla Walla University 36-member select choir, I Cantori, under the direction of Kraig Scott, professor of music, will perform “A Colony of Heaven (in a world of death)” on tour in Oregon, Thursday, Feb. 16, through Sunday, Feb. 19.

“We will be singing songs of community, support, and love; songs of struggle, pain, and death; and songs looking forward to a permanent heavenly home,” says Scott.

I Cantori will sing for public services at Milo Adventist Academy in Days Creek, at Sunnyside Seventh-day Adventist Church in Portland, and at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Parish in Portland. Saturday night, Feb. 18, they will hold a special public concert at Trinity Episcopal Church in Portland. The choir will also hold private performances at Livingstone Adventist Academy in Salem and at Portland Adventist Academy in Portland. (See the complete tour schedule below.)

“I love working with I Cantori of Walla Walla University because of the group’s vibrant, energized sound, because the choir consists of such smart musicians, and perhaps even more, because this choir cares for and loves each other,” says Scott. “I Cantori changes the lives of its members; through our singing we seek to change the lives of listeners.”

I Cantori (Italian for “the singers”) is an auditioned group chosen from the approximately 1,900 students at WWU. The ensemble has traveled extensively on the West Coast, as well as in Canada, Russia, and Romania. Their repertoire focuses on classical church music but includes a wide variety of mostly sacred styles. The choir regularly performs for the 2,000-member Walla Walla University Church of Seventh-day Adventists and offers a major concert each quarter on campus.

Scott has directed the WWU choral ensembles since 2009. His appearances as a guest conductor include leading the festival chorus of Central Lutheran Church in Eugene, Oregon, and conducting the 500-voice choir of the Seventh-day Adventist International Choral Congress in Bucha, Ukraine. Scott also teaches organ and harpsichord at WWU, and serves as organist and minister of music at the University Church. He has an associate degree from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and a bachelor’s degree from Walla Walla University. His advanced degrees include a master of music degree from the University of Oregon, a master of arts degree and a doctor of musical arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, and postgraduate choral conducting training at Michigan State University.

Tour schedule

Thursday, Feb. 16
• Livingstone Adventist Academy, Salem
• 5 p.m., Milo Adventist Academy, 324 Milo Drive, Days Creek

Friday, Feb. 17
• Portland Adventist Academy, Portland

Saturday, Feb. 18
• 8:45 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., Sunnyside Seventh-day Adventist Church, 10501 S.E. Market St., Portland
• 5 p.m., Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 147 N.W. 19th Ave., Portland

Sunday, Feb. 19
• 10 a.m., St. John the Baptist Episcopal Parish, 6300 S.W. Nicol Rd., Portland

Posted February 2, 2017

I Cantori of Walla Walla University has toured extensively on the West Coast, as well as in Canada, Russia, and Romania.