Goshen College to host Northern Indiana Choral Festival concert Oct. 16

Concert: Northern Indiana Choral Festival concert

Date and time: Sunday, Oct. 16, 2005, at 7:30 p.m.

Location: Sauder Concert Hall, Goshen College Music Center

Cost: Tickets are $6 adults, $4 seniors and students. Blocks of tickets will be distributed in the schools; a limited number of tickets will be available at the door prior to the concert.

Web site: www.gcmusiccenter.org

GOSHEN, Ind. – Five area high school choirs will participate in the inaugural Northern Indiana Choral Festival, held in the Goshen College Music Center on Oct. 16. The choirs will rehearse during the day with Goshen College choral directors and professors Debra Brubaker and James Heiks and then present an evening festival concert at 7:30 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall, with each group performing individually before combining to perform several selections as a mass choir. Men’s and women’s choir selections will also be performed. Brubaker and Heiks will direct the mass choirs.

The participating area schools are Bethany Christian High School with director John D. Smucker, Central Noble High School with director Jerry Polman, Elkhart Christian Academy with director Brett Deardorff, Fairfield High School with director Ben Kambs and Goshen High School with director Theresa Gunden.

The mass choir concert repertoire will include “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord” by Moses Hogan, “Ave Maria” by Sergei Rachmaninoff, “Sisters” by Gwyneth Walker and “The Awakening” by Joseph Martin.

The Northern Indiana Choral Festival is co-directed by Ben Kambs, Fairfield High School choral director, and Brian Wiebe, executive director of the Goshen College Music Center.

Brubaker is professor of music at Goshen College, where she oversees the choral and opera theater programs, as well as teaching voice and church music courses. She holds a doctorate of musical arts degree from the University of Kansas, a master of music degree from the University of Northern Colorado and a bachelor’s degree from Goshen College. Brubaker was assistant professor of music at Bluffton College (Ohio) for 10 years, and has also taught choir in public schools in Indiana and Colorado. Since coming to Goshen College in 1999, Brubaker has directed the college Chorale and Chamber Choir, and has created the Women’s World Music Choir, which made its debut in the spring of 2004.

Heiks joined Goshen College as associate professor of music in 2003 after a 30-year career in the Appleton, Wis., public schools. He is also the founder of the Appleton Boychoir, which celebrated its 25^th anniversary last year. His choirs have performed in Eastern Europe, Italy, Scandinavia, Russia, Mexico and Japan. As a student and colleague of composer Alice Parker, he is currently collaborating with her on a new folk songbook series. GIA published the first book, “Alice Parker’s Hand-Me-Down Songs” in 2005.

Tickets for the festival concert are $6 adults, $4 seniors and students. Blocks of tickets will be distributed in the schools and a limited number of tickets will be available at the door prior to the concert.

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 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/.