Local children's choirs to perform selection of sacred and secular music in May 3 spring concert

Concert:Community School of the Arts Showcase Concert
Date and time: Sunday, May 3 at 4 p.m.
Location: Goshen College Music Center's Sauder Concert Hall
Cost: $7 adults, $5 seniors/students. GC students are free with valid ID. Tickets available at the door one hour before the concert.

GOSHEN, Ind. – Students and ensembles from the Goshen College Community School of the Arts (CSA) will perform in a special showcase concert in Sauder Concert Hall on Sunday, May 3 at 4 p.m. A concert highlight will be performances of 95 local youth in CSA's two children's choirs – Rejoice (grades 3-5) led by Rosemary Rupp and Shout for Joy (grades 6-8) led by Sandy Hill.

The program also will feature CSA violin and viola ensembles directed by Rosalyn Troiano, a CSA piano duo instructed by Anna Bauer, and a CSA vocal ensemble instructed by Sandy Hill.

Hill has taught voice with the Community School of the Arts since 2003 and recently accepted the role as director of Shout for Joy Children's Choir. She has taught private vocal instruction in the Goshen community since 1999, and before that at the Wausau (Wis.) Conservatory of Music. She has performed on Wisconsin Public Radio's Live From the Elvehjem, and has appeared in a variety of musical and operatic roles. She was chosen as an intern to participate in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Internship Program at Pennsylvania State University with master teacher Jean Westerman Gregg.

Rupp, director of the Rejoice! Choir since 2006, teaches at West Goshen and Prairie View schools. She earned a master's degree in education from Indiana University South Bend and a bachelor of arts from Goshen College. Rupp is also active as a church musician, leading children's choirs for many years. She is a former director of Shout for Joy!, leading the choir from 1977 to 1982.

Troiano is the director the String Academy of the Goshen College Community School of the Arts, teaching Suzuki and traditional violin and viola students and directing two string ensembles, Allegro Ensemble and Vivace Strings. She received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where she was teaching assistant for viola professor, George Taylor. In April 2006, she was awarded the Shinichi Suzuki-American Suzuki Foundation Scholarship to study Suzuki pedagogy with GC alumnus and author, Edmund Sprunger, at the American Suzuki Institute in Steven's Point, Wis. Troiano was also selected to participate in the 2007 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Goshen College has a long tradition of preparatory programs in piano and violin for pre-college community youth. Soon after the completion of the Goshen College Music Center, these programs and other initiatives were combined to establish the CSA in the fall of 2003. The CSA provides quality arts education and performance experiences for people of all ages, abilities and economic circumstances. Last year CSA served more than 350 community persons through its programs. Acorn scholarships are granted according to a sliding scale to students who demonstrate need

Tickets for the concert are $7 adults, $5 seniors/students, available at the door only. GC students are admitted free 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.