“The Princeton Singers celebrates 41 years of music making this season and we look forward to regaling the Lehigh Valley audience with this multi-cultural program,” says Princeton Singers Artistic Director Steven Sametz.

Princeton Singers present “Horizons: A Little Bit from Down Under,” 4 p.m. Nov. 3, Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem.

The program opens with a secular song from the Late Middle Ages (circa 15th century) “L’homme armé” (“The Armed Man”), a popular tune used for settings of the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass.

Of that same time period, the Franco-Flemish composer Josquin de Prez (circa 1450-1521) penned two settings of the “Ordinary of the Mass” wherein the first setting, “Missa L’homme armè super voces musicales” incorporates the “L’homme armé” tune. Audiences will enjoy the setting’s “Agnus Dei III.”

Australian composer, conductor and educator Stephen Leek (born 1959) is known for incorporating aboriginal traditions in his music. The song “Knowee” addresses myths of the sun and the moon.

“Visions of a Child” by composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (born 1968) is a Pueblo lullaby inspired and dedicated to the Pueblo Indian people of New Mexico. The work is based on Pueblo melodies and rhythms and depicts the imaginings of a child being lulled to sleep.

The program continues with “Ummah Sallih” by Phillipine conductor, composer, singer John August Pamintuan (born 1972) which speaks to the dedication of a new-born child. The song comes from the “Molbog Suite” named for a tribe found in the Palawan group of islands in western Philippines.

The concert’s second-half opens with “Fragmento” from the ballet “Pirámide” by Portuguese composer Carlos Chavez (1899-1978).

Says Sametz, “This very dynamic work is entirely spoken. It is a rhythmic ‘tour de force’ for speaking choir.

“It speaks to the Portuguese colonization of South Africa and the eradication of the San People,” Sametz says.

The selection which follows, “Horizons” by African composer Peter Louis Can Dijk (born 1953), is based on a 16th century Bushman painting of a European ship inhabited by people they saw as gods, but who would soon be the cause of the Bushmen’s near-extinction.

“My Lawd What a Mornin’” derives its text from the Bible, Revelations 8:10, which expresses the awe and dread of the trumpet and falling stars and the hope that God’s promised justice has finally arrived. The work is arranged by Henry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949), American baritone, composer and noted arranger of African-American spirituals.

The concert continues with the Diane Loomer (1940-2012) arrangement of “Goin’ Home,” which utilizes the principal theme from Antonin Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” with baritone solo.

The concert closes with “Magnificent Horses (Fantasy on Mongolian Folk Tunes),” arranged by Yang Hong Nien and adapted by Jing Ling-Tam.

Sametz, the Ronald J. Ulrich Professor of Music at Lehigh University, and marks his 25th season as Artistic Director of the Princeton Singers.

Sametz has appeared as guest conductor with the New York Chamber Symphony, Taipei Philharmonic Foundation, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Berkshire Music Festival and Netherlands Radio Choir. He made his Carnegie Hall début conducting Lehigh Choral Arts in his choral symphony “Carmina amoris.”

In 2013, Sametz was named to the Fulbright Specialist Program, the first Lehigh professor to be so honored, and toured China teaching as a Fulbright Specialist. His works have been recorded by The Princeton Singers and Chanticleer, including his Grammy Award-winning, “Colors of Love.”

Based in Princeton, N.J., the Princeton Singers served for 20 years as the choir in residence at the Lehigh University Summer Choral Composers Forum and as Horger Artists-in-Residence at Lehigh University in fall 2021.

“Horizons: A Little Bit from Down Under,” Princeton Singers, 4 p.m. Nov. 3, Zoellner Arts Center, 420 E. Packer Avenue, Bethlehem; Tickets: box office; 610-758-2787 ext. 0; https://zoellner.cas.lehigh.edu/

“Classical View” is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com