March 21st 2017
The Allegheny Choirs, under the direction of James D. Niblock, will perform a free concert at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, April 8, in Shafer Auditorium. The Allegheny College Chorus, Chamber Choir, Women’s Ensemble, Men’s Ensemble, and College Choir will each perform several works, and the groups will collaborate to close the performance as a choir of 111 voices. The concert is free and open to the public.
March 21st 2017
The Allegheny Choirs, under the direction of James D. Niblock, will perform a free concert at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, April 8, in Shafer Auditorium. The Allegheny College Chorus, Chamber Choir, Women’s Ensemble, Men’s Ensemble, and College Choir will each perform several works, and the groups will collaborate to close the performance as a choir of 111 voices. The concert is free and open to the public.
The College Chorus will open the concert with “Fair Phyllis I Saw,” a playful English madrigal by John Farmer about a young shepherdess and her lover. Jewish composer Robert Applebaum will also be featured with his humorous Yiddish folk song “Chiribim Chiribom,” relating to the March holiday of Purim.
The Chamber Choir will present four pieces from the repertoire for their upcoming spring tour to New Zealand, where the choir will hold nine performances in May. This concert will showcase “Le Pont Mirabeau” by French-Canadian composer Lionel Daunais. Another notable piece is “Father William,” an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s poem from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” composed by Irving Fine. Allegheny faculty Dr. Douglas Jurs will accompany the Chamber Choir at the piano for the concert as well as on their upcoming tour.
The Women’s Ensemble will round out the first half of the program with “The Seal Lullaby” by Eric Whitacre, and Baldassare Galuppi’s “Dixit Dominus,” which they originally performed in concert with the Alexander String Quartet during the quartet’s annual residency at Allegheny.
The Men’s Ensemble will open the second half with Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia Hymn,” performing from a new edition by student Samuel Walgenbach ’19, who is part of the Men’s Ensemble and College Choir. This will be followed by Benjamin Britten’s “The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard,” an energetic adaptation of the folk tale “Matty Groves.” Britten’s work was written for prisoners of war and features frequent meter, tempo, and dynamic changes.
The College Choir will then perform a piece written by Allegheny’s first College choir director, Morten J. Luvaas, in 1945. “The Cry of God” was frequently performed by the Allegheny Singers on spring tours. The Choir will finish with “Pseudo-Yoik,” composed by Jaako Mantyjarvi. It is a fast-paced impression of a Lappish Yoik (a repetitive traditional folk song of the Sami people) with meaningless text, sung in a spirited and brilliant tone.
The choirs will combine to conclude the concert with the Horatian ode “Felices ter,” by Randall Thompson, and the College’s “Alma Mater, Beatissima.”
Collaborating with the choirs are student soloists and pianists Kevin Dill, director of music at First Presbyterian Church, and Allegheny Professor Emeritus of Music Ward Jamison.
Audience members are encouraged to sit in the balcony as well as in seats on the main floor of the auditorium.
March 21st 2017
The Allegheny Choirs, under the direction of James D. Niblock, will perform a free concert at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, April 8, in Shafer Auditorium. The Allegheny College Chorus, Chamber Choir, Women’s Ensemble, Men’s Ensemble, and College Choir will each perform several works, and the groups will collaborate to close the performance as a choir of 111 voices. The concert is free and open to the public.
The College Chorus will open the concert with “Fair Phyllis I Saw,” a playful English madrigal by John Farmer about a young shepherdess and her lover. Jewish composer Robert Applebaum will also be featured with his humorous Yiddish folk song “Chiribim Chiribom,” relating to the March holiday of Purim.
The Chamber Choir will present four pieces from the repertoire for their upcoming spring tour to New Zealand, where the choir will hold nine performances in May. This concert will showcase “Le Pont Mirabeau” by French-Canadian composer Lionel Daunais. Another notable piece is “Father William,” an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s poem from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” composed by Irving Fine. Allegheny faculty Dr. Douglas Jurs will accompany the Chamber Choir at the piano for the concert as well as on their upcoming tour.
The Women’s Ensemble will round out the first half of the program with “The Seal Lullaby” by Eric Whitacre, and Baldassare Galuppi’s “Dixit Dominus,” which they originally performed in concert with the Alexander String Quartet during the quartet’s annual residency at Allegheny.
The Men’s Ensemble will open the second half with Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia Hymn,” performing from a new edition by student Samuel Walgenbach ’19, who is part of the Men’s Ensemble and College Choir. This will be followed by Benjamin Britten’s “The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard,” an energetic adaptation of the folk tale “Matty Groves.” Britten’s work was written for prisoners of war and features frequent meter, tempo, and dynamic changes.
The College Choir will then perform a piece written by Allegheny’s first College choir director, Morten J. Luvaas, in 1945. “The Cry of God” was frequently performed by the Allegheny Singers on spring tours. The Choir will finish with “Pseudo-Yoik,” composed by Jaako Mantyjarvi. It is a fast-paced impression of a Lappish Yoik (a repetitive traditional folk song of the Sami people) with meaningless text, sung in a spirited and brilliant tone.
The choirs will combine to conclude the concert with the Horatian ode “Felices ter,” by Randall Thompson, and the College’s “Alma Mater, Beatissima.”
Collaborating with the choirs are student soloists and pianists Kevin Dill, director of music at First Presbyterian Church, and Allegheny Professor Emeritus of Music Ward Jamison.
Audience members are encouraged to sit in the balcony as well as in seats on the main floor of the auditorium.
March 2nd 2017
Six Allegheny College student musicians represented their school at the 70th Annual Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band Festival, held at Westminster College February 10-12. Thirty-one colleges and universities participated in the all-state event. Members of the symphonic band program at Allegheny, the six students selected by resume to participate were: Melissa Rusczcyk, clarinet; Brea Whiting, alto clarinet; Abbie Johnson, French horn; Raven Sanchez, string bass; Kevin Simpson, trumpet, and Jon Schaeffer, baritone saxophone. The guest conductor for the festival was Col. Thomas Palmatier, recently retired Conductor of the U.S. Army Band, “Pershings Own.”
The students were accompanied by Dr. Lowell Hepler, Professor of Music and Director of Bands, along with Dr. Ronald Stitt, Assistant Director of Bands.
Jon Schaeffer has also been selected to participate as a baritone saxophonist in the National Small College Intercollegiate Band as part of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) conference at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, from March 15-18. Students are chosen internationally for the band, again via resume. The national intercollegiate band will be conducted by Gary D. Green, Emeritus Professor of Music and Director of Bands at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Faculty members Hepler and Ronald Stitt will also participate as part of the auditioning committee for the event.
February 27th 2017
Meadville, Pa. — The Allegheny College Music Department will host a High School Jazz Band Festival on Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 6 p.m. in Allegheny’s Shafer Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.
Featured ensembles are the Conneaut Area Blue Note Jazz Band directed by Glenn Cameron, the Meadville Area Senior High School Jazz Band, directed by Armond Walter, General McLane High School’s GM Jazz, directed by Jacob Malec, and the Allegheny College Jazz Band, directed by Stephen F. Corsi.
For more information, please call Stephen F. Corsi at 814-332-6244.
February 27th 2017
Meadville, Pa. — The Allegheny College Music Department will host a High School Jazz Band Festival on Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 6 p.m. in Allegheny’s Shafer Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.
Featured ensembles are the Conneaut Area Blue Note Jazz Band directed by Glenn Cameron, the Meadville Area Senior High School Jazz Band, directed by Armond Walter, General McLane High School’s GM Jazz, directed by Jacob Malec, and the Allegheny College Jazz Band, directed by Stephen F. Corsi.
For more information, please call Stephen F. Corsi at 814-332-6244.
February 17th 2017
The Allegheny College Music Department will host a High School Jazz Band Festival on Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 6 p.m. in Allegheny’s Shafer Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.
Featured ensembles are the Conneaut Area Blue Note Jazz Band directed by Glenn Cameron, the Meadville Area Senior High School Jazz Band, directed by Armond Walter, General McLane High School’s GM Jazz, directed by Jacob Malec, and the Allegheny College Jazz Band, directed by Stephen F. Corsi.
For more information, please call Stephen F. Corsi at 814-332- 6244.
February 17th 2017
San Francisco’s award-winning Alexander String Quartet will return to campus for its annual residency at Allegheny College, and will perform in Ford Chapel on Friday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. Early seating is recommended, as the chapel has filled to capacity in previous years.
The Alexander String Quartet includes violinists Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violist Paul Yarbrough and cellist Sandy Wilson. Formed in New York City in 1981, ASQ became the first string quartet to win the Concert Artists Guild Competition just a year later.
This year’s concert will showcase Benjamin Britten’s Quartet No. 1 in D Major, and Beethoven’s “Rasumovsky” Quartet in E Minor. It will also feature the Allegheny College Women’s Ensemble in Baldassare Galuppi’s “Dixit Dominus.” Written in the 18th century, the work represents a movement that greatly advanced the role of women as performers.
More information on the quartet can be found at www.asq4.com.
February 17th 2017
San Francisco’s award-winning Alexander String Quartet will return to campus for its annual residency at Allegheny College, and will perform in Ford Chapel on Friday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. Early seating is recommended, as the chapel has filled to capacity in previous years.
The Alexander String Quartet includes violinists Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violist Paul Yarbrough and cellist Sandy Wilson. Formed in New York City in 1981, ASQ became the first string quartet to win the Concert Artists Guild Competition just a year later.
In 1985, the ensemble captured international attention as the first American quartet to win the London International String Quartet Competition. The quartet has since performed in major music capitals on five continents, and has established itself as an important advocate of new music through over 30 commissions and numerous premiere performances.
ASQ has a major artistic presence in its homebase of San Francisco, serving there since 1989 as Ensemble in Residence for San Francisco Performances, and Directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Center in the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. They have brought theirteaching experience to Allegheny for 27 years through a short annual residency on campus, during which the quartet will visit classes across the academic disciplines to discuss music through an interdisciplinary lens, as well as perform for and with students.
The quartet has held concerts at Allegheny each year as well; this is their second visit in which they have invited an Allegheny choral ensemble to join them in the performance. The first collaboration was in 2015 with the Allegheny Chamber Choir, and the quartet performed a piece with Professor Alec Chien on piano as well.
“Following that performance, the quartet members and I immediately talked about continuing this collaboration with our singers, so we’ve been looking forward to carrying it out,” said James Niblock, director of the Allegheny Choral Ensembles.
This year’s concert will showcase Benjamin Britten’s Quartet No. 1 in D Major, and Beethoven’s “Rasumovsky” Quartet in E Minor. It will also feature the Allegheny College Women’s Ensemble in Baldassare Galuppi’s “Dixit Dominus.” Written in the 18th century, the work represents a movement that greatly advanced the role of women as performers.
More information on the quartet can be found at www.asq4.com.
February 17th 2017
San Francisco’s award-winning Alexander String Quartet will return to campus for its annual residency at Allegheny College, and will perform in Ford Chapel on Friday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. Early seating is recommended, as the chapel has filled to capacity in previous years.
The Alexander String Quartet includes violinists Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violist Paul Yarbrough and cellist Sandy Wilson. Formed in New York City in 1981, ASQ became the first string quartet to win the Concert Artists Guild Competition just a year later.
In 1985, the ensemble captured international attention as the first American quartet to win the London International String Quartet Competition. The quartet has since performed in major music capitals on five continents, and has established itself as an important advocate of new music through over 30 commissions and numerous premiere performances.
ASQ has a major artistic presence in its homebase of San Francisco, serving there since 1989 as Ensemble in Residence for San Francisco Performances, and Directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Center in the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. They have brought their teaching experience to Allegheny for 27 years through a short annual residency on campus, during which the quartet will visit classes across the academic disciplines to discuss music through an interdisciplinary lens, as well as perform for and with students.
“Following that performance, the quartet members and I immediately talked about continuing this collaboration with our singers, so we’ve been looking forward to carrying it out,” said James Niblock, director of the Allegheny Choral Ensembles.
This year’s concert will showcase Benjamin Britten’s Quartet No. 1 in D Major, and Beethoven’s “Rasumovsky” Quartet in E Minor. It will also feature the Allegheny College Women’s Ensemble in Baldassare Galuppi’s “Dixit Dominus.” Written in the 18th century, the work represents a movement that greatly advanced the role of women as performers.
More information on the quartet can be found at www.asq4.com.