Goshen College Chamber Choir to perform Feb. 9 concert with organ

Concert: Goshen College Chamber Choir, directed by Debra Brubaker, featuring Christine Thögersen, organ
Date and time:Friday, Feb. 9, 2007, at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Rieth Recital Hall, Goshen College Music Center
Cost: $6 adults, $4 for seniors and students, available through the Welcome Center: (574) 535-7566

GOSHEN, Ind. – The Goshen College Chamber Choir, directed by Professor of Music Debra Brubaker, will perform a concert of works for choir and organ with organist and Assistant Professor of Music Christine Thögersen on Friday, Feb. 9 in Rieth Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.

Brubaker will lead the choir in performances of works for choir and organ by Weelks, Bach, Monteverdi, Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner and more. Thögersen will also perform several solo organ works by Bach, Strungk and Mozart on Opus 41, Goshen College’s 1600-pipe Taylor & Boody organ.

Brubaker oversees the choral and opera theater programs at the college, as well as teaching voice and church music courses. She holds a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Kansas, a master of music degree from the University of Northern Colorado and an undergraduate degree in music from Goshen College. Brubaker was assistant professor of music at Bluffton (Ohio) College for 10 years, and has also taught choir in public schools in Indiana and Colorado.

Since coming to Goshen in 1999, Brubaker has directed the Goshen College Chorale and Chamber Choir, and has recently created the Women’s World Music Choir. Her choirs have performed with the Toledo Symphony and South Bend Symphony, as well as toured to many parts of the United States and Canada, singing at venues including the Washington National Cathedral and the New York World Trade Center site. Recent Goshen College operas that she has directed include Bizet’s “Carmen,” Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” and Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” Her voice students regularly compete and place at regional NATS competitions. An accomplished hymn leader, Brubaker’s contacts in Mennonite churches and schools provide ample opportunity for her to practice the art of bringing people together through shared song.

Thögersen earned her undergraduate degree in music at Goshen College, her master of arts in music education from Illinois State University and completed her B-Exam in Kirchenmusik from the Berliner Kirchen Musikschule in Berlin, Germany. Her teaching at Goshen College includes keyboard theory, fine arts for children, foundations of music theory and applied piano and organ.

Thögersen began a second half-time teaching post at Benton Elementary School in Goshen teaching general music in the fall of 2003. She was involved in planning the inaugural of the Opus 41 organ at Goshen College, built in Rieth Recital Hall by Taylor & Boody Organbuilders of Staunton, Va., and dedicated in May 2005. She serves as organist at 8th Street Mennonite Church in Goshen.

Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for seniors and students, available at the Goshen College Welcome Center: (574) 535-7566. As seating in Rieth Recital Hall is limited, patrons are strongly encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door as they are available.

Editors: For more information about this release or to arrange an interview, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.