ISSUED: 21 November 2016
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University Department of Music Preparatory Division opens its ninth season with a concert by the Preparatory Orchestra, Junior Strings Ensemble, and Preparatory Chorus at the Frank Center Theater on Wednesday, December 7, at 7:30 p.m.
The Shepherd Preparatory Chorus is directed by Dr. David Gonzol, professor of music and director of music education. The assistant conductor for the chorus is Angela Weaver, an alumna who teaches in Jefferson County schools. The program will include “Mary at the Kitchen Door” by Patrick Ware; “The Erie Canal Song” by Thomas Allen, arranged by Cyndee Giebler; and “I Vow to Thee, My Country” by Gustav Holst. The chorus will also perform two pieces by Zoltán Kodály—No. 5, “At a walking pace” and “Vetekedik vala háromféle virág,” which the chorus will sing in Hungarian.
The Junior Strings Ensemble, under the direction of Shepherd alumna Renee Shaw, will perform “Skaters’ Waltz” by Emile Waldteufel, arranged by Richard Meyer; “Soldiers’ March” by Franz Schubert, arranged by Larry Clark and Doris Gazda; and “Noche de Estrellas” by John Caponegro.
The Shepherd Preparatory Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Scott Hippensteel, associate professor of music/director of bands, will perform the overture from “The Impresario” K. 486 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; “L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2” by Georges Bizet; “Nimrod” from “Enigma Variations” by Edward Elgar; and “Night On Bald Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky, orchestrated by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and arranged by Carl Simpson.
The Junior Strings Ensemble is made up of both student and adult musicians from the community. The Shepherd Preparatory Chorus membership includes male and female vocalists in grades three through eight.
The Shepherd Preparatory Orchestra and Junior Strings Ensemble are comprised of middle and high school string and wind students from Jefferson and Berkeley counties and Washington County, Maryland. Coaches for the orchestra are adjunct Shepherd faculty members Heather Austin-Stone, violin, and Camilo Perez-Mejia, cello; Justin Newberger, a teacher in Berkeley County schools, violin; and Kathy Shrader, the orchestra director at North Hagerstown (Maryland) High School, viola. String, wind, and percussion students from Shepherd University also participate in the orchestra.
General admission to the concert is $5. It is free for Shepherd students with a valid Rambler ID. For more information, contact Sherry Sykes, preparatory program coordinator, at ssykes@shepherd.edu or call 304-876-5248.
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