Providence Singers celebrate Lincoln, Poe, Tennyson

Let us now praise famous men — in song.
That’s what the 110 members of the Providence Singers plan to do as they present ‘‘Anniversaries: Music That Celebrates Legends’’ Saturday at 8 p.m., Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, 30 Fenner St. in Providence and Sunday at 3, St. Mary’s Church, 330 Wood St., in Bristol.
Led by artistic director Andrew Clark, the choral group heralds the 200th birthdays of President Lincoln, composer Felix Mendelssohn, and poets Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. The program also marks the 200th and 250th anniversary of the deaths of composers Franz Josef Haydn and Georg Frideric Handel, respectively.
The program will include Charles Ives’s ‘‘Lincoln the Great Commoner,’’ Elie Siegmeister’s ‘‘Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight,’’ Mendelssohn’s ‘‘Ave Maria,’’ Handel’s ‘‘Zadok the Priest,’’ and Haydn’s ‘‘Te Deum.’’ A highlight of the concerts will be the performance of poems by Walt Whitman, Tennyson, Poe, and Holmes set to music.
Some of the pieces will be rendered by the Junior Providence Singers, a group of 40 high school students.
For the weekend, there’s an ‘‘Invite a Friend’’ special: Bring someone who has never heard the singers and save $10 on each ticket.
Tickets are $26 at the door; $22 in advance, $5 children and students. For more information call 401-751-5700, 401-683-1932 or go to the group's website.

Posted by Jan Shepherd, Globe correspondent