The Missouri University of Science and Technology choral program will present its fall concert, Eat, Drink and SING!, this week. The performance will feature music about food programmed as a menu, including cocktails, appetizers and dessert.

The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, in Leach Theater of Castleman Hall, located at 10th and Main streets in Rolla.

Admission to the concert may be obtained by either purchasing a ticket for $5 or by bringing a nonperishable food item. Tickets are free for Missouri S&T students with a valid ID. All food will be donated to GRACE to assist them in providing food to area residents in need. Tickets are available from the Leach Theatre Box Office, located in the vestibule inside the main entrance of Castleman Hall, facing 10th Street.

The featured piece, or “Main Chorus” of the menu, will feature the oratorio The Seasonings, 1 1/2 tsp., written by PDQ Bach. PDQ Bach is an invention of composer Peter Schickle to bring some humor into the classical world, says Lorie Francis, associate teaching professor of arts, languages and philosophy.

The Seasonings is written in the style of a baroque oratorio, with a few musical twists. The program notes from the musical score, written by Peter Schickle, are as follows:

“The Seasonings is, as far as is known, the only oratorio written by PDQ Bach (1807-1742)?, and we must thank God for small favors. The last and least of the great JS Bach’s 20-odd children was not only the oddest, but also the least understood, since there was so little to understand. He lived an exceptionally pointless life which is mirrored with amazing fidelity in his compositions.

The oratorio was written during the last of the composer’s three creative periods – Contrition – when he gave up many, though not all, of the extravagances of the Soused Period, and the characteristically incompetent characteristics of the Initial Plunge. The work was first published in Liverpool by Jonathan “Boozey” Hawkes, who has been one of PDQ’s many drinking companions in Wein-am-Rhein during the Soused Period. Since the original manuscript, or ms., has never been found, and since the first published edition was already in English, with no credit given for the libretto, we can only speculate about the authorship of the text; or, of course, we can simply not think about it at all.”

Following the performance in Leach Theater, the Rolla Choral Arts Society (RCAS) will present the “Nightcap” portion of the program. Our audience members are invited to join the Rolla Beer Choir at the Public House Brewing Co., 600 N. Rolla St. in Rolla. Beer Choir chapters host social singing events in pubs and breweries across the country; the Rolla Chapter meets once a month to promote singing in the area. Beer Choir Hymnal downloads, and more information about Beer Choir, is available at beerchoir.com. Come sing and see what Beer Choir is all about.

For more information, contact Lorie Francis at lorief@mst.edu or 573-341-4739.