Mark Reppert will conduct the Siskiyou Singers in their spring concerts May 4-5 at the SOU Music Recital Hall, 450 S. Mountain Ave. in Ashland.

The Siskiyou Singers are taking their music to Italy in June. You can “go along” without leaving the Rogue Valley.

They’re previewing some of the tour repertoire in their spring concerts May 4-5 at the SOU Music Recital Hall, 450 S. Mountain Ave. in Ashland.

The choir is mounting an ambitious program for the season finale. In addition to pieces they’ll perform on tour, they’ll also feature compositions by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Shawn Kirchner, Susan Brumfield, William Dawson, and Samuel Barber, among others.

Music director Mark Reppert said the tour is a big undertaking. The five-day, non-competitive Alta Pusteria International Choral Festival is the main event. Choir members also will perform a la carte concerts in northern Italy towns and have some time to sightsee.

The choir will perform in concert halls, churches and village squares, as well as outdoors, surrounded by the spectacular scenery of the Dolomites.

“It requires a great deal of preparation and effort from the choir,” he said. “We will perform short a cappella performances, longer concerts and also independent, hour-long concerts before and after the festival in Italian cathedrals.”

A highlight of the May concerts in Ashland will be four short poems by Emily Dickinson set to music by Alice Parker, pieces chosen for the Italy tour.

Reppert was looking for a thoughtful program idea and Parker’s arrangements fit the bill.

He says the music is profound.

“Dickinson has a way of delving into the depths of human experience with words that seem so simple. Parker’s music matches the style — seemingly simple yet very complex,” Reppert said.

The choir will visit the concept of beauty through Dickinson’s words.

“Each section of our concert — Heaven, Nature, Spirit and Infinity — will open with a corresponding Dickinson poem,” he said.

The singers will share additional tour pieces at the local concerts. Among them are Aaron Copland’s ethereal setting of “At the River;” “Nootka Paddle Song,” based on a welcoming chant by the indigenous people of British Columbia; Joshua Shank’s euphoric “The Boy Who Picked Up His Feet to Fly;” and “The Pasture,” adapted from the poetry of Robert Frost.

The choir has toured before, most recently in 2019.

“We went to the Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania,” Reppert said. “We sang at many venues and also got a chance to be tourists.”

The choir consists of 56 members, 22 of whom will participate in the Italy tour, paying their own expenses, approximately $6,000 each.

They will sing for and with other choirs. Reppert says they look forward to comparing notes with singers from around the world.

Siskiyou Singers, formed in 1982, is a community choir composed of enthusiastic residents of the Rogue Valley and beyond. Its members travel from as far as Yreka and Grants Pass to participate in the joy of singing choral music.

They have been performing two concerts a year, one in December and another in the spring. They also have performed at various community events such as the Feast of Will and perform joint concerts with other local choral groups.

Reppert taught music in public schools for 32 years and has been a choral conductor for more than 50 years. He was appointed music director of the Siskiyou Singers in 2009.

The Ashland concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 5.

General admission ticket prices are $25. Students and Oregon Trail Card holders tickets are $5. Tickets can be purchased at Music Coop and Paddington Station in Ashland, online at siskiyousingers.org, or from choir members.