Portland State University: PSU Choirs- A South African Celebration with Michael Barrett

Featuring world-renowned guest composer and conductor Michael Barrett from South Africa in an extraordinary citywide choir collaboration, this concert is a powerful celebration of community, growth and musical storytelling. As Portland State University’s choral program has expanded, this performance reflects the deep roots and far-reaching branches of our shared choral ecosystem. Highlights will include many of Michael Barrett’s best-known arrangements of South African music, like “Indodana” and “Inkosi Namandla,” plus Ethan Sperry’s new arrangement of the Oscar-winning Bollywood song “Naatu Naatu” from RRR and Coty Raven Morris’s new composition “Tapestry of Stars.”

PSU’s Chamber Choir, Rose Choir and Thorn Choir are joined by a massed choir of 200 of the finest high school singers from across the Portland area, including students from these high schools: Grant, Lincoln, Sam Barlow, Camas, Rex Putnam, Gresham and Cleveland. This concert will be a once-in-a-generation gathering of voices across ages and experiences. Expect music that challenges and uplifts—music that reminds us how, when voices come together, our shared soil becomes something profoundly alive.