The Hillsdale College Chamber Choir will perform a Choral Evensong service commissioned by the college and composed by Andrew Maxfield Oct. 2 at 2:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel.

“I’m excited that this is ours and it is written specifically for Christ Chapel,” said James Holleman, professor of music. “It meets Dr. Arnn’s vision of music in Christ Chapel and it brings everything together.”

The service is the culmination of a multi-year project.

“Going back several years, Dr. Arnn had the idea when we were building the chapel to have Evensong on a regular basis, so I thought, ‘Let’s commission an original setting of an Evensong,” Holleman said.

Maxfield is a world-renowned composer and was a Composer Fellow of the National Collegiate Choral Organization and Composer-in-Residence for Newburyport Choral Society and Southern Virginia University. Holleman first met Andrew Maxfield in 2019 and decided to approach him about composing an Evensong service in 2020. 

“We locked him in during the spring of 2020, and he started writing that summer, so this has been a really fruitful relationship with this young composer who’s getting his music performed all over the world right now,” Holleman said. “He’s doing great things, and he’s just a terrific person.”

Maxfield arrived in Hillsdale on Wednesday, which allowed him time to practice in person with the choir, something junior Paul Lindauer said he is looking forward to.

“Maxfield is a young and talented composer with an engaging personality,” Lindauer said. 

“I’m thrilled that we get the opportunity to work with him in person in the week preceding the concert.”

Lindauer has been involved with the chamber choir since his sophomore year. He said he is looking forward to performing Maxfield’s music.

“Chamber choir has performed some of Andrew Maxfield’s work before, and I remember his musical settings as harmonically unique, challenging, and fun to learn,” he said. “The music of this service strikes me as bold and is delightfully paired with the well-established and meaningful texts of the Evensong Service. It is a great honor to have a work of Maxfield’s commissioned for our choir and chapel.”