KSC Chamber Ensembles Join Concert Choir in Fall Performance
KEENE, N.H., 11/06/08 - The KSC Vocal Chamber Ensembles join the KSC Concert Choir to perform their fall concert on Sunday, November 23, at 3 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Admission is $10 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth ages 17 and younger. For tickets, call the box office at 603-358-2168.
The KSC Vocal Ensembles, coached by KSC music professor Carroll Lehman, will perform three pieces. Mozart’s Kanon: Essen, Trinken will be sung by KSC music performance major Ariel Cohen (‘11), and music education majors Coleen Durkin (‘11) and Timothy Price (‘11). Mozart’s Mi Lagnero Tacendo will be performed by music education majors Melissa White (‘10), Melinda Abodeely (‘10), and Stephen Abodeely (‘11). Rossini’s Stabat Mater will be sung by music performance majors Heather O’Connor (‘09) and Kim Harte (‘09). The ensembles will be accompanied by KSC artist-in-residence George Loring.
The KSC Concert Choir, conducted by music faculty member Diane Cushing, will sing an eclectic selection of songs with and without musical accompaniment. They will perform My Peace is Here by New England composer Kevin Siegfried, accompanied by a string quartet, and a piece by Georg Philipp Telemann for two strings and keyboard. And the Angels Sing by Ziggy Elman and Johnny Mercer will also be sung, with KSC music faculty member Craig Sylvern accompanying on clarinet. Music education major and chorus president Jessica Heller (‘09) will conduct Rejoice With Exceeding Great Joy, a piece the choir will perform at Walt Disney World in December. KSC music major Vivianne Belanger (‘09) will assist conducting the choir.
Cushing has been heard as soloist with the Master Works Chorale of Boston, Boston Baroque, the Hamilton Baroque Ensemble, the Cape Cod Chorale, the Bach Society, the Neponsett Choral Society, the Thayer Symphony Orchestra, the Assabet Valley Mastersingers, and the Monadnock Chorus and Orchestra. Cushing has also been heard in Boston’s premiere of Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brazileiras No.5 with bassoons, and in Worcester’s critically acclaimed performance of the poetry of Stanley Kunitz, set to music by composer David McKay. She is the founder and director of the Greater Gardner Youth Choir and the Mount Wachusett Community Choir, and was recently appointed director of the Nashua Choral Society. Cushing currently teaches voice at Keene State and at Assumption College.
Sylvern, a tenor saxophonist, is an associate professor and past chairperson of the Music Department at Keene State. He has performed with symphony orchestras in Florida, South Carolina, Ohio, California, New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire and toured for many years as tenor saxophonist with Keith Brion and his New Sousa Band. Currently he performs as a member of the Keene Jazz Orchestra and coordinates the annual KSC Faculty Composers Concert.
