ISSUED: 20 September 2016
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University Department of Music will host a Visitation Day on Monday, October 10. The event is open to all high school seniors and juniors who are interested in pursuing a degree in music at Shepherd.
The open house gives aspiring music majors the opportunity to live a “day in the life” of a Shepherd University music student and learn about the audition and application process. The high school students will attend classes, meet the music faculty and current Shepherd students, visit with representatives from the admissions office, hear ensemble rehearsals and performances, have lunch in the Dining Hall, and take a guided campus tour. Interested parents are also welcome to attend.
This year’s open house will offer high school students the opportunity to sit in on a voice master class with soprano Estelí Gomez, a member of the Grammy-winning octet A Roomful of Teeth. Highlights of 2016-17 for Gomez include her solo debut with the Seattle Symphony, a recital of Handelian opera arias in Baltimore, soprano solos in Haydn’s “Lord Nelson Mass” with Bach Collegium in San Diego, the world premiere of a song cycle by Andrew McIntosh with Yarn/Wire in New York, teaching residencies at the University of Oregon and the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and tours with Roomful of Teeth to Sweden and throughout North America.
Shepherd offers three degrees: a Bachelor of Music in Performance, a Bachelor of Music Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in music. The mission of Shepherd’s music department is to challenge students to reach their potential by providing extraordinary experiences. Music majors have many performance opportunities, including four choirs, wind ensemble, wind symphony, orchestra, chamber groups, two jazz bands, marching band, and an opera every year.
Shepherd music students have the opportunity to study with some of the region’s most experienced performers and educators. Master classes are regularly offered with nationally acclaimed guest artists who are touring the region. Shepherd students are invited to perform at a number of venues in the United States and abroad. They have appeared at Giant’s Stadium, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, in cathedrals around the world, as well as in Carnegie Hall in New York. The Jazz Ensemble and members of the vocal ensembles toured England in 2007, and the Wind Ensemble and Chamber Choir toured Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic in 2009, Spain in 2011, and Paris, the Côte d’Azur and Monte Carlo in 2013. The music department most recently participated in the Alba International Music Festival in 2015 and toured Milan, Torino, Pisa, Cremona, Cinque Terre, and Rome.
To register for Shepherd University Music Visitation Day, complete the registration form online at www.shepherd.edu/music/music-prospective-students, print it out and return it by mail to Shepherd University Department of Music P.O. Box 5000, Shepherdstown, WV 25443, or fax it to 304-876-0955, or email it to music@shepherd.edu. For more information about Shepherd University’s music degree programs and offerings, visit www.shepherd.edu/music.
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