Goshen College choirs perform spring concert of music from around the globe

Concert: Goshen College choirs concert, “EARTHTONES: Songs from many cultures”
Date and time: 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 14
Location: Sauder Concert Hall, Goshen College Music Center
Cost: $6 adults, $4 seniors/students. GC students free with valid ID. Tickets only available at the door.

GOSHEN, Ind. – Singing music from a dozen regions of the world, the Goshen College choirs will explore the large palette of sounds available to the human voice, including: the strident tones of Eastern European song, the powerful chants of the Inuit tribes, the dulcet sweetness of Finnish “yoiks,” the spirited “huapango” of southern Mexico and the vibrant vitality of songs from Brazil, Mongolia, Nigeria, New Zealand, Israel, Hungary and the British Isles.

The Goshen College Chamber Choir, Chorale, Men’s Chorus and Women’s World Music Choir will perform in a concert titled “EARTHTONES: Songs from many cultures” on Saturday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall.

The choirs, directed by Associate Professor of Music James Heiks, will each sing in multiple languages and styles, and will also combine to perform “Past Life Melodies” by Sara Hopkins, a work based on Aboriginal music that requires a specialized singing technique called “overtone singing” which has its roots in Hoomei “throat” singing indigenous to Western Mongolia. Drawing from powerful melodies of almost every continent, EARTHTONES promises to provide a concert of vitality and tone color in a celebration of world music.

Heiks joined Goshen College in 2003 after a 30-year career in the Appleton, Wis., public schools. He is also the founder of the Appleton Boychoir, which has celebrated its 28th anniversary. In 1987 he led a contingency of 100 children and adults on a Mission of Peace to the former Soviet Union. His choirs have performed in Russia, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Estonia, Norway, Mexico and Japan. As a student and colleague of Alice Parker, he is currently collaborating with her on a new folk songbook series. GIA Music Publishers published the first book, “Alice Parker’s Hand-Me-Down Songs” in 2005. He is currently working on producing a CD of the songbook with singers from the Goshen College Community School for the Arts.

Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the door and cost $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and students. Admission is free for GC students with valid ID.

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, 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 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.