Barry McNamara  |   Published April 26, 2023

Six Ensembles, Five Days, Four Concerts

Performing will be Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Concert Band, Civic Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Concert Choir and Chamber Choir.

MONMOUTH, Ill. – Spring is in the air, and that means music is, too, as Monmouth College will host four concerts to close out the academic year.

All of the concerts will be in the Kasch Performance Hall of Dahl Chapel and Auditorium and are free and open to the public. They will all be streamed on the Monmouth College Facebook page.

FINALE FLURRY: Students in the Monmouth College Wind Ensemble perform during the school's Sch... FINALE FLURRY: Students in the Monmouth College Wind Ensemble perform during the school's Scholars Day celebration on April 25. The Wind Ensemble's concert on April 28 will start a flurry of six ensembles presenting their semester-ending performances in a five-day span.The first of the College’s “A Springtime of Music” concerts will be held at 7:30 p.m. April 28, when the Wind Ensemble, directed by Justin Swearinger, performs the world premiere of Paideia Fanfare, among other selections. More information about that event is available here.

Four ensembles will present concerts April 30. At 3 p.m., the Civic Orchestra, directed by Rich Cangro, and the Symphonic Concert Band, directed by John Eckstine, will perform.

Later, at 7:30 p.m., the Concert Choir, directed by Tom Clark, and the Chamber Choir, directed by Tim Pahel, will sing.

The final event in the flurry of concerts will be held at 7:30 p.m. May 2 when the Jazz Ensemble, directed by Stephen Jackson, has its semester-ending concert.

The Symphonic Concert Band’s performance will have a decidedly patriotic theme. Some of the selections are “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Henry Fillmore’s march “Americans We,” “American Overture for Band” by Joseph Wilcox Jenkins, and “An American Elegy” by Frank Ticheli.

The music for the Civic Orchestra portion of the concert will feature works by contemporary composers, including a piece written in 2018 by Kevin Day. Works from 2013 and 2015 by by Elena Kats-Chernin and Shirl Jae Atwell, respectively, will also be performed.

The Chamber Choir and Concert Choir will perform a wide variety of music, including, classical, folk, multicultural, gospel, vocal jazz and even rock. Some highlights include a gospel arrangement of “Shine on Me,” an arrangement for choir and bagpipe of “Loch Lomond” and a choral arrangement of the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The choirs will combine at the end of the concert for a performance of Joseph Martin’s beautiful “The Awakening.”

The Concert Choir consists of Monmouth students, faculty and staff, as well as community members and students from Carl Sandburg College and area high schools including Abingdon-Avon, Annawan, Monmouth-Roseville and United. The Chamber Choir is made up of Monmouth students who are also in Chorale. It is the most highly select vocal ensemble at the College.

The Jazz Ensemble will perform tunes by Charles Mingus, Louis Jordan, Thad Jones and Joe Zawinul, among others, with a wide variety of styles represented.

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