Friday, October 29, 2010
PRINCESS ANNE, MD-(October 29, 2010)-As crisp and clear as the autumn sky, the voices of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Concert Choir will ring through the Ella Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. at one of the few public performances music enthusiasts can hear in the choir’s home venue.
That’s not to say choir members aren’t swirling in a vortex of activity with daily and sectional rehearsals, a myriad of campus performances and at private events in the region.
This semester’s line up has already taken two members to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to perform at the “105 Voices of History” as part of National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week.
Thirty voices strong, the UMES choir will take part in the Inter-Collegiate Music Association Choral Festival, an event open to the public and slated for Sunday, Nov. 7, at Norfolk State University’s Douglass Wilder Center for the Performing Arts. It also performs at a reception for the world movie premiere of “The Lost River,” the untold story of Delmarva’s own Anna Ella Carroll, “the unrecognized member of Lincoln’s cabinet, Saturday, Nov. 20, at the Hyatt resort in Cambridge, Md.
“This fall’s concert promises to be a particularly enjoyable one,” Dr. Sheila McDonald Harleston, conductor of the choir, said.
The concert features returning guest artist Gregory Gardner, a baritone from Portsmouth, Va., and faculty member at Hampton University, and new to the UMES stage-Aundi Moore, a young mezzo soprano originally from Chesapeake, Va., now living in Bowie, Md.
“I always look forward to coming to the Eastern Shore,” said Gardner, and lists UMES and area hospitality as “warm and gracious.”
“Choir members and audiences in past performances at UMES have expressed an appreciation for Mr. Gardner’s talent,” said Harleston. “He is a very dedicated and professional artist.”
“Ms. Moore has become one of America’s leading sopranos,” Harleston said. “She has received numerous awards nationally and internationally, particularly in the Washington, D.C., area. We look forward to her performance here on the Eastern Shore.”
Harleston said the choir will share experiences from its 2010 Spring Tour, which took students to St. Thomas and St. John, V.I. Featured music includes Bach, Berger, Burleigh, Nystedt, Swingle, Mann, Powell, Haywood and Johnson. A tribute to veterans in recognition of Veteran’s Day rounds out the event schedule.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information about the annual concert, or to purchase a CD of the UMES Concert Choir, contact 410-651-6574 or 410-651-6571.
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Gail Stephens, assistant director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-651-7580, gcstephens@umes.edu.
Bill Robinson, director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-621-2355, wrobinson3@umes.edu.
