The Choir of the North launched its fiftieth season Thursday with an opening performance by the Alaska Camerata accompanied by the UAF Brass Ensemble.

The performances were conducted by John Hopkins, a voice professor and chair of the Music Department.

The Camerata, fist organized in 1992, is an elite group of vocalists. Their love and understanding of song is captured in the enchanting way they feel the music.

Walter Fourie, who is studying civil and environmental engineering, is a tenor with a particularly melodious voice.

"His voice is clear, resounding, which makes him fun to listen too," said business major Stefanie Dreilich. "He kind of reminds me of monks hundreds of years ago who sing prayers."

Camerata opened with two "Madrigals" by Claudio Monteverdi and then performed six "Chansons" by Paul Hindemith.

The most exciting part of the evening was the songs by Irving Fine from "Alice in Wonderland." The songs "Father William," "The White Knights Song," and "Beautiful Soup" were a particular joy to listen to.

All seven songs about Wonderland were introduced by members of the choir, who read parts of the story in character; the asides explained the context of the song within the story.

On Oct. 30, the Camerata toured local elementary schools performing dressed in costumes of characters from Wonderland. They visited Joy, Woodriver, Badger Road and also at the Pioneer retirement home. Their outfits were supplied by the UAF Theatre Department.

"We sang for the kids to expose them to University music, for publicity and as an outreach to the community," said Alto Katherine Crean. "The kids thought we were funny and laughed at our costumes."

The closing piece of the Camerata's set was a melodious and repetitive rendition of Lewis Carroll's nonsensical poem "Jabberwocky" from the book "Through the Looking Glass, and what Alice Found There."

The poem begins, "'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe." It was performed with words punctuated by sounds from a variety of percussion instruments wielded by members of the choir. Instruments included the triangle, cymbals and tambourine.

The Choir of the North also performed remarkably last Thursday.

The songs consisted of pieces that kept to the festival theme in celebration of the fiftieth year of the choir.

The opening song, "Fanfare for a Festival," was accompanied by the trumpets, trombones, tuba and timpani drum of the UAF Brass Ensemble.

The other pieces, "Alleluia" by Randall Thompson, "Let all the Nations Praise the Lord" by Vlockmar Leisring, and "The Eyes of All Wait Upon Thee" by Jean Berger, were conducted expertly with harmonically overlapping crescendos that seemed particularly joyous.

"Festival Te Deum" by Benjamin Britten was the closing song.

"Te Deum" is unique because the other songs had been performed by the choir in previous years. The piece is one of Hopkins favorites. He had waited a long time to perform the piece, he said, and was happy overall with the performance.

Freshman Choir of the North tenor Mitchell Reed was proud of the result especially since this was their first performance with an audience.

"It was a great outcome of a lot of hard work and practice," Reed said.

The small audience was happy with the performance and applauded long enough to illicit several bows from Hopkins and the choir.

"I though both choirs were great," said junior physics major Ian Jones.

The next concert for Choir of the North is the Design Alaska Family Holiday Concert on Dec. 9. The concert will feature songs of the Holiday season sung by children's choirs, competition winners and the University Chorus with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets are on sale now and usually sell out before the event.