San Jose concert will honor legendary SJSU choral director Archibeque

It s not hard to sing the praises of Charlene Archibeque the longtime professor emeritus and director of choral sessions for San Jose State University But you can imagine the SJSU Choirs and Orchestra along with a special alumni choir will do a top-notch job when they honor her during a concert Saturday May at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose To top it off they ll be joined by San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson to announce the Charlene Archibeque Endowed Professor of Choral Music the first endowed professorship in the School of Music s history Archibeque retired in after teaching choral students at the university for years She will turn this summer That s not the only thing that ll make Saturday s concert special though The choirs and orchestra also will be premiering Nizkor A Journey of Remembrance which was composed by SJSU School of Music Director Fred Cohen He revealed the work adapts the traditional Catholic requiem to Jewish liturgical contexts by drawing on Jewish texts and mourning practices He composed it in response to personal family losses and the COVID- pandemic The work is meant to transform individual mourning into a sanctified act of communal remembrance noted Cohen whose piece will be performed by the SJSU Choraliers the Concert Choir and orchestra along with soloists Hannah Cho Courtney Miller Christopher Bengochea and Philip Skinner The p m concert also includes Beethoven s Choral Fantasy Tickets are available at hammertheatre com sjsu-music-tickets The California Theatre is located at S First St San Jose