MC Singers’ Homecoming performance kicks off Fall Concert Series slate at Mississippi College

The MC Singers' concert in Provine Chapel is a beloved tradition at Homecoming.

Mississippi College’s premier choral ensemble will provide a sense of prayerful earnestness to this year’s Homecoming festivities when the MC Singers present a concert at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26, in Provine Chapel on the Clinton campus. The event is free and the public is invited.

Beth Everett, director of choral activities at MC, said the concert’s theme, “Hear Our Prayer,” allows the group to explore a wide range of musical selections from a variety of composers.

“Everything centers around a prayer theme, but that doesn’t mean every piece will be contemplative in musical style,” Everett said.

The group will perform early music by Henry Purcell, a 17th-century English composer of Baroque music and one of England’s most important early music composers; a selection of the Prayer of St. Patrick that will be sung “in the round,” an arrangement of the hymn, “Precious Lord,” one of the most popular early gospel songs that arose in the U.S.; and an arrangement of “Kyrie,” a popular 1980s Billboard tune by Mr. Mister, an American rock band.

Everett said the concert provides a perfect opportunity to talk with students about the importance of prayer.

“So much about MC is centered around prayer,” Everett said. “One of the truths we’ve been exploring is why do we, in each of these songs, ask the Lord to hear our prayer? We know as believers that He hears our prayer the first time.

“We say ‘Hear our prayer’ so others around us will know that when that prayer is answered, it was the work of God.”

The Homecoming concert is the first of three performances that will make up Mississippi College’s Fall Concert Series slate, which will conclude with the popular “lessons and carols” program, Festival of Lights, scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 5-7, in Provine Chapel. MC faculty and staff also participate in the concert, an annual tradition at MC since 1986.

“As people kick off their Christmas season, we want them to realize that Jesus is not isolated to one time of year. He should be part of our lives every day,” Everett said.

The Choctaw Chorus, a mixed-voice choir that sings sacred and secular music from all periods, is also preparing for its fall performance, a mid-day concert scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20, in the Aven Fine Arts Building.

Since many of its student members are worship leadership majors, Everett selects music that would be useful to those who may one day direct church choirs.

For more information about the Fall Concert Series and other music events at MC, visit music.mc.edu/events.