The Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club will travel to cities in mainland China March 13-25 to perform for a wide range of audiences, building on the Cornell-China relationship founded more than a century ago.

Led by Scott Tucker, the Priscilla Edwards Browning Director of Choral Music and professor of music at Cornell, the Glee Club and Chorus are two of the oldest student-run organizations at Cornell and have performed and toured since 1868 and 1921, respectively.

"We are eagerly anticipating this opportunity for cultural exchange and to strengthen the many friendships formed during Cornell's enduring relationship with China," said Tucker.

Praised as among America's top collegiate choirs, each of the groups comprises 60 students. The traveling group features 80 singers chosen by rigorous audition who will perform in several of China's most prestigious venues.

Collaborations with such groups as the International Festival Chorus and Orchestra, the Hong Kong Bach Choir and Orchestra and choirs at Beida and Fudan universities in China will offer Chinese audiences and Cornell students an opportunity to share musical experiences.

The choir will open its tour in Beijing with a performance of Johannes Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem at the Forbidden City Concert Hall, March 15, followed by a private concert at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, March 17.

In Shanghai, the group will perform at the Oriental Arts Center and at Fudan University and give workshops at Weiyu High School and Shanghai American School.

The choirs also will sing an Easter Evensong Service, March 23, at St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong, followed by finale performances at Tsuen Wan Town Hall, March 24, and at the Diocesan High Schools, March 25.

In addition to Brahms' Requiem, the singers will perform selections by such composers as Franz Biebl, Stephen Chatman, Augusta Read Thomas and Béla Bartók, and the premiere of a specially commissioned piece by acclaimed Chinese composer Chen Yi and Cornell Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky.

For more information on the tour and ticket purchase, visit http://china.gleeclub.com.

Nina Coutinho '08 is the international tour manager for the China trip and a member of the Cornell University Chorus.