Diversity and Language Celebrated Through Song
KEENE, N.H., 11/14/06 - Keene State College’s Chamber Singers and Concert Choir will perform a culturally and linguistically diverse concert on Friday, December 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth age 17 or younger. Call the box office at 603-358-2168.
Elaine Broad Ginsberg will conduct the KSC Chamber Singers in an a cappella program, including holiday music with several different languages as well. Selections include: “Oseh Shalom” (a Hebrew prayer for peace), in an arrangement by Ginsberg; “Fa Una Canzona,” an upbeat Italian madrigal by Vecchi; Rachmaninoff’s “Bogoroditse Devo” (“Ave Maria” in a Russian setting); and the holiday favorite “In Dulci Jubilo” arranged by Pearsall. The Chamber Singers will also perform “We Remember Them,” an original piece by Ginsberg that was previously sung at Keene’s annual Kristallnacht memorial service in November.
Diane Cushing conducts the KSC Concert Choir, a group of both male and female singers. They will perform in six different languages, including “Jumalisten Juockko” in Finnish. Student and assistant conductor Kate DePalo will conduct John Rutter’s “Dormi Jesu,” and a brass quartet will accompany the choir on a holiday piece as well. The Concert Choir will also perform “Joy to the World” and “Il Est Ne,” which they will sing at a special concert at Disney World (Florida) later in the month. “The closing number, ‘Hope for Resolution’ is a celebration of diversity,” Cushing said. “The arrangement reflects our respect for divergent musical styles and points us toward our innate (though sometimes neglected) potential for peaceful coexistence. We sing this in English and Zulu.”
Elaine Broad Ginsberg teaches music theory and composition at Keene State and currently conducts the Hampshire College Chorus. She was previously the Jewish Community music director in the Springfield, Massachusetts, area. Prior to that she taught composition and music theory and history, and conducted the Chamber Singers at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.
Diane Cushing, who teaches voice at Keene State, is the founder and director of the Greater Gardner Youth Choir and the Mount Wachusett Community Choir, which toured Italy in 2005. Cushing, a soprano, also has been a featured soloist with the Monadnock Chorus, the Master Works Chorale of Boston, Boston Baroque, and many other groups. She was also the music director of the recent Keene State production of Urinetown.
