Portara Ensemble’s name hints at the group’s mission: the choir seeks to be a gateway to collaboration within Nashville’s music community. Last year, Portara partnered with ALIAS Chamber Ensemble and the Nashville Ballet to commission and premiere new music by Paul Moravec. The result, ‘Amorisms,’ was released as an album earlier this year.

In Studio C, director Jason Shelton and the ensemble gave us a sample of their latest effort at collaboration. This time, the focus is on music composed or arranged by Nashvillians. Portara Ensemble’s spring concert is at 7pm Saturday at the W.O. Smith Music School. 

Set list:

Daniel Elder: Fresh and Fearless

• Horacio Guendalain, piano

Elder is a freelance composer and Portara singer

traditional spiritual, arranged by Jeffery Ames: I’ve Been in the Storm So Long

• Lea Maitlen, solo

Ames is Director of Choral Activies at Belmont University

Thom Schuyler and Don Hart: Every Tear Wiped Away

• Alana Griffith, solo
• Kevin Madill, piano

Schuyler and Hart are both closely associated with Music Row; this is a movement from a larger work commissioned by the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and premiered in 2006

Patrick Dunnevant: And They That Be Wise

Dunnevant is a freelance composer and the assistant conductor of Portara