Music department to present ChoralFest 2009 Concert

The centerpiece for this year's ChoralFest Concert is Schubert's "Mass in G," which will be performed, under the direction of Jo Ellen Miano, by a combined chorus of 60 voices with orchestra. Music major and graduating senior Rebecca Pethes is featured as soprano soloist, along with tenors Rory Wallace and Michael Halfond, and baritone Matthew Lawliss.

The Cardinal Singers will perform a group of madrigals and other part songs by dominant composers of 16th- and early 17th-century Italy, France and England. The audience will hear works by Monteverdi, Weelkes and Purcell. Featured is Janequin's "Le Chant des Oiseaux" ("The Song of the Birds") in an edition by guest conductor Dr. G. Roberts Kolb from Hamilton College.

The College Chorale will perform a variety of choral pieces, ranging from an English madrigal to several 20th-century American works by Morroe Berger and Fats Waller including "Ain't Misbehavin'." The concert will close with the Chorale's rendition of the spiritual "Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit," as arranged by Moses Hogan.

ChoralFest 2009 includes a full complement of events surrounding the Friday-evening concert that are free and open to the public.

Kolb, ChoralFest 2009 guest choral clinician and conductor, comes from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., where he is the director of choral activities. While in residence for three days, Kolb will work in a clinic setting with the two college choirs and with high school groups on Friday, April 24. In addition, Kolb and Miano will meet with area school choral directors for a roundtable discussion of choral topics on Friday, April 24, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Myers Fine Arts Building.

On Saturday, April 25, the SUNY Plattsburgh Department of Music voice faculty will present their annual workshop, "Getting Ready for Your NYSSMA Solo," for area school vocalists.

This year's ChoralFest will conclude with a voice master class on Sunday, April 26, from 12 to 3 p.m. in Krinovitz Recital Hall, Hawkins Hall. The master class "Classical and Cross-Over Singing" will be led by guest tenor Vale Rideout. During the class, Rideout will work with six selected SUNY Plattsburgh singers and speak about his career path and training. He will also appear as a guest artist on Saturday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m. in E. Glenn Giltz Auditorium, Hawkins Hall, as part of the Karen Becker and Friends recital series. This concert is free and open to the public. For more information on any of these events, please call Miano at 518-564-2472.