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Duke Vespers Ensemble to Sing with Rolling Stones

The choral group will join the Stones on stage to sing backup on one of the rock group’s classic hits.

Vespers & Stones

Photos courtesy Duke Chapel and the Rolling Stones

The Duke University Vespers Ensemble will sing in concert with the Rolling Stones when the band’s Zip Code tour comes to Raleigh’s Carter Finley Stadium on July 1. For the concert, the choral group will forgo its usual repertoire of Renaissance-era sacred music in order to join the Stones on stage to sing backup on one of the rock group’s classic hits.“We sing a pretty broad repertoire of sacred music, but this is definitely a step outside of what we normally do,” said Brian Schmidt, conductor of the Duke Vespers Ensemble and assistant conductor at Duke Chapel. “It’s a great recognition for the choir to be invited and an exciting opportunity for the singers.”The Duke Vespers Ensemble is a chamber choir based at Duke Chapel with about two dozen singers. Half of the members are students and half are local residents. The group leads candlelit worship services every Thursday evening during the academic year, as well as a popular All Hallows Eve Service.The choir released its first commercial CD last year and recently recorded a second CD scheduled to be published in the fall. The ensemble was selected to perform this summer at the Boston Early Music Festival as well as at the spring 2016 regional conference of the American Choral Directors Association.