Common Brandeis occurrences: hearing professors read out loud; listening to music in the Slosberg Concert Hall. Uncommon Brandeis occurrence: Combining them into one performance.

University Chorus Director James Oleson did just that Wednesday, merging epic verse and classic opera music Saturday, as he led an evening titled "Orpheus-First Poet and Musician."

Both the University Chorus and Chamber Choir were right on target all evening, conveying passion with an intensity only found when many sing as one voice; well-executed harmonies added even greater strength to works by Claudio Monteverdi and Christoph Willibald Gluck, among others. The choir evoked excitement and sadness as they jumped from fast to slow, loud to soft. The voices were well-complemented by a delightful performance from pianists Arum Chun '08 and Wellesley College accompanist Jenny Tang.

In Gluck's "Orphee et Euridice," two of the strongest soloists performed as Orpheus (Christine Cable '08) and Eurydice (Mai Iizuka '10), characters from the famous Greek myth. Both soloists hit extremely high notes, and maintained excellent clarity doing so. One could hear absolutely every word, no matter how high or low.

Another soloist deserving particular mention was Matt Stern '08, for his lengthy aria in Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo." Often in choral performances, the audience concentrates merely on the vocal sound, which while the most important aspect, isn't everything. Stern mastered his vocal performance with seeming ease, heightening his solo with intense facial expressions and swaying to the music.

Before each piece, Prof. Leonard Muellner (CLAS) read segments from Virgil and Ovid's works. The poetry provided context for the music and vice versa. Muellner's expressiveness only enhanced this aspect of the evening.

The evening started off with a performance by the Early Music Ensemble and Chamber Choir. Some songs were merely instrumental, some a cappella and some combined instrumentation and vocals. The 14 songs came in three languages-Latin, English, French. But as Oleson hoped, all were moving, and for a fleeting moment the Slosberg lobby seemed to resemble a Renaissance fair.

Oleson best summed up the evening in an e-mail to the Justice: "Both poetry and music speak to the same human need, the need for some value beyond those we argue about all the time, particularly in western culture and particularly in the University."

The concert ended on an exciting note, culminating in the famous can-can. The choir was louder and more dramatic than before. Oleson turned to the audience and encouraged them to sing along with the familiar tune, directing the audience, grinning and vigorously swaying his body to the beat of the music. After this energizing finish, audience members left with smiles on their faces.