WVUs Choral Union and African Drum Ensemble will take part in a concert at the newly opened Clay Center for the Arts&Sciences titledContinental Harmony: Celebrating Communities Through Music,Saturday, Oct. 4.

The WVU African Drum Ensemble, directed by Paschal Yao Younge, will open the program at 8 p.m. in the Clay Centers Maier Foundation Performance Hall with African music and dance from the Yoruba of Nigeria, as well as the Southeastern Ewe, and the Akan and Ashanti-Akan of Ghana and Benin. The performance will be followed by Marshall Universitys 12 OClock Jazz Ensemble, directed by Martin Sanders.

The second half of the program will feature the WVU Choral Union, conducted by Kathleen Shannon, performing in the world premiere of Grammy-winning composer Paul Halleys original composition for choir and instrumental accompaniment titledIn Sideribus Domi: At Home in the Stars.

The performance will also feature the Charleston Civic Chorus, conducted by J. Truman Dalton, the Greenbrier Valley Chorale, conducted by Barbara Wygal, and the WVU at Parkersburg Chorale, conducted by H.G. Young III . In addition, Halley will present a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m.

The premiere celebrates the Clay Centers new performing arts, science and visual arts facility and West Virginias long tradition of choral singing. The piece was commissioned by the Clay Center in partnership with WVU at Parkersburg and the communities of Charleston, Parkersburg, Lewisburg and Morgantown as part ofContinental Harmony,the national community-based composer residency program of the American Composers Forum of St. Paul, Minn.

The creation of the new work also supports the Clay Centers efforts to nurture creativity, exploration, discovery and celebration.

Tickets for the Clay Center performance are $22 for Area A seating and $12 for Area B. For more information, contact the Clay Center for the Arts&Sciences at (304) 561-3570 or visit the Web site at http://www.theclaycenter.org .