Kenyon College Chamber Singers to Perform March 5
The Kenyon College Chamber Singers, conducted by Dr. Benjamin Locke, will be performing on Thursday, March 5, 2009, at First Baptist Church of Greater Toledo, 6520 Pilliod Road, Holland, at 7:30 p.m. The Chamber Singers, consisting of fifty-one undergraduates chosen by competitive audition, is Kenyon's premier touring ensemble. The group is noted for its versatility of vocal style and broad repertoire. The New York Concert Review applauded the artistry of the ensemble, stating “the young members of the Chamber Singers...retain the proper lightness to navigate the translucent textures of Sweelinck’s Cantate Domino and Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus...focused intently on the conductor, the singers kept their audience hanging on every word.”
The Chamber Singers will again present an eclectic mix of a cappella choral repertoire on their 2008 Spring Tour. A centerpiece to the program will be Brahms's motet "Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein rein Herz," a setting of Psalm 51:12-14. Other pieces on the program include Ernest Bloch's "Yihyu leratzon imrei fi" (Psalm 19:14), Juhani Komulainen’s "Four Ballads of Shakespeare," Williametta Spencer’s "At the round earth’s imagined corners" William Harris's "Faire is the heaven," Claude Debussy’s “Trois Chansons,” Adolphus Hailstork’s “My Lord, what a moanin’” and many other selections of sacred and secular choral repertoire.
The members of Chamber Singers come from seventeen different states and also singers from Malaysia and Mexico. Only twelve of the singers have declared music as their academic major, with the rest having chosen fields such as mathematics, biology, psychology, classics, English, and biology, to name but a few. All the singers value music as an integral part of a liberal-arts education and take great pride in reaching for the highest musical standards in performance.
Benjamin Locke holds the rank of Professor at Kenyon. He directs the Kenyon Community Choir, teaches music theory, conducting and voice, and is also the musical director of the Knox County Symphony (based in Mount Vernon, Ohio). He has written several research articles on the choral music of Johannes Brahms and has also published many transcriptions and arrangements of South African folksongs. Dr. Locke earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he studied extensively with Robert Fountain. He is also native to the Toledo area, having been raised in Monclova. He and his parents (Rose Mary and William Locke) founded the Benjamin Locke Chorale in 1972, now known as the Masterworks Chorale.
The Music Department consists of six distinguished faculty in the areas of musicology, music theory and performance, and ethnomusicology. The Department resides in the new Storer Music Building with state-of-the-art classrooms and performance spaces, in addition to the recently renovated Rosse Hall. Applied study is offered in piano, woodwinds, brass, strings, and voice as well as organ, harp, harpsichord and some early instruments. Both music majors and non-majors participate in the numerous instrumental and vocal ensembles on campus.
Kenyon College is Ohio's oldest private college and has been building a reputation for excellence for more than one hundred eighty years. It boasts a remarkably dedicated faculty, a carefully planned liberal arts curriculum, a highly capable student body, and alumni who have contributed significantly in all walks of life. Located in the rolling hills of central Ohio, the campus has been called one of the nation's most attractive.
Press Release Contact Name: Scott Baker
Press Release Contact Email: [email protected]
Organization Name: Kenyon College