The biennial Five College Choral Festival falls this year on Saturday, Feb. 20. The festival will take place at 7:30 p.m. in John M. Greene Hall at Smith College in Northampton. Admission is free, though early arrival is recommended as seating is limited.

This popular event features twelve groups and nearly 500 individual singers from Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The groups featured are The Hampshire College Chorus, The Amherst College Choir, The Amherst College Madrigal Singers, The Amherst College Women’s Chorus, The Amherst College Glee Club, The Five College Collegium of The Five College Early Music Program, The Mount Holyoke Glee Club, The Mount Holyoke Chorale, The University of Massachusetts Chamber Choir, The University of Massachusetts University Chorale, The Smith College Chorus and The Smith College Glee Club.

The choral groups will perform a diverse array of pieces, including spirituals, folk music, Renaissance music and contemporary works. Pieces range from “Et La La La” by Ninot Le Petit to “Turn the World Around” by Harry Belafonte and Robert Freedman to “Cantique de Jean Racine, op. 11” by Gabriel Faure. The finale features all twelve groups from the Five Colleges in a rendition of 1658’s “Plorate, filii Israel from Jephte” by Giocomo Carissimi, to be conducted by special guest Kristina Boerger.

Lindsay Pierce can be reached at [email protected].