THOUSAND OAKS, CA - Areté Vocal Ensemble will open its fifth season at California Lutheran University with a concert featuring a contemporary composition for voices, hammer dulcimer and percussion at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, in Samuelson Chapel.

The ensemble will perform “Hymnody of Earth” by Malcolm Dalglish with the Los Robles Children’s Choir. The music is based on the poetry of Kentucky author Wendell Berry, whose work addresses the importance of community, conservation and common sense. Guest artists will be Scott Higgins on hammer dulcimer and David Shaffer on percussion.

The Los Robles Children’s Choir, conducted by Edward Rouse, will also perform American hymns and folk songs.

Dalglish is an American composer and choral director who plays and builds the hammer dulcimer. He has received more than 50 commissions to write pieces for choirs around the globe including the St. Olaf Choir and the Indianapolis Children’s Choir.

Higgins is a Los Angeles-based freelance percussionist who performs on a regular basis with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Santa Barbara, Long Beach and New West symphonies. His work includes hundreds of recordings for television, motion pictures and video games.

Shaffer studied percussion and non-Western music systems at California Institute of the Arts. He has performed and recorded with many jazz and rock ensembles and composed music for choreographers Tomas Tamayo and Lisa Townsend and the Helios Dance Theatre.

Areté is an innovative professional ensemble of vocal artists based at CLU. Music director and conductor Wyant Morton, a CLU music professor, created the group with the goal of performing the widest possible vocal and choral repertoire, including works from essentially all periods of music. The ensemble, which takes its name from the Greek word meaning striving for excellence, focuses on performing the new, the unknown and the unconventional with energy, passion, expertise and virtuosity.

The chapel is located south of Olsen Road near the corner of Campus Drive in Thousand Oaks. Additional parking is available at the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard.

Tickets purchased online in advance are $15. Tickets purchased at the door are $20. Children younger than 12 are admitted free. For information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.aretevocalensemble.org.