Consolation and comfort are the themes of a University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra program that is but one of several Department of Music concerts in the coming week. They include five free concerts.

The chorus and orchestra concert is titled Americana: Music of Consolation and Comfort from the Heartlands, highlighted by David Conte's Elegy for Matthew and Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna.

The concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. June 1 in Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Elegy for Matthew is a choral tribute to Matthew Shepard, who died Oct. 12, 1998, five days after being beaten and left to die, tied to a split-rail fence outside Laramie, Wyo. -- in a vicious act of homophobia that marked a turning point in this nation's reaction to hate crimes.

Lux Aeterna is a five-piece movement with texts drawn from sacred Latin sources, each with references to light.

The program also includes works by Aaron Copland and Stephen Foster.

Other concerts include:

May 30 -- Undergraduate Composers Concert. 4:10 p.m., 115 Music Building.

June 2 -- Graduate Composers Concert. Works by Ching-Yi Wang, Sue-Hye Kim, An Tan and Davide Verotta, and the world premiere of a new work by UC Davis alumnus Eric Sawyer. Performed by the Empyrean Ensemble. 8 p.m., Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center. Preconcert talk, 7 p.m., "Demystifying the Music."

June 3 and 5 -- Student chamber ensembles. 12:05 and 4:10 p.m. June 3, and 12:05 p.m. June 5, 115 Music Building.

June 4 -- Concert Band and Wind Ensemble. Program includes works by Randall E. Faust, horn player and professor of music at Western Illinois University. Special guest performers from Davis junior high schools' ninth-grade bands. 7 p.m., Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center.

June 5 -- Symphony Orchestra Community Concert. Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy (graduate student Jessica Bejarano conducting); Berlioz: Dream of a Witches' Sabbath from Symphonie fantastique; and Ramteen Sazegari: Overture. 7 p.m., Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center.

June 6 -- Empyrean Ensemble. Performing in the Jazz and Progressive Music Series at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Sacramento, featuring works by the winners of the first St. Paul's Music Composition Competition: David Lipten, Works for Piano, to be performed by Michael Orland of the Empyrean Ensemble; and Leanna Primiani, Paraklesis, to be performed by women's chorus Vox Musica. The Empyrean program also includes Sounds of the Forest, for violin and piano, by Sofia Gubaidulina. 8 p.m. The church is at 1430 J St. More information: music.ucdavis.edu/empyrean and stpaulssacramento.org/space_music.htm.

ADMISSION

The Undergraduate Composers Concert, student chamber ensemble concerts and the Symphony Orchestra's Community Concert are free.

Tickets for the University Chorus-Symphony Orchestra concert, the Graduate Composers Concert with the Empyrean Ensemble, and the Concert Band-Wind Ensemble concert are available through the Mondavi Center box office: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or www.mondaviarts.org.

The Jazz and Progressive Music Series is free, with donations welcome.