Tim Cloeter, Assistant Professor of Choral Music, conducted a chorus of 370 high school students at the Youth Symposium of the 13th Annual Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod in Kuala Lumpur on June 13-14. Coming together from all across their country, the students participated in massed chorus rehearsals and individual choir coaching sessions led by Cloeter that culminated in a concert of nine high school choirs and the massed chorus. While in Kuala Lumpur, Cloeter also led masterclasses at two higher education institutions: the Malaysian Institute of Art and the University of Malaysia.
Category Archives: choral
Choral Music Donation to benefit the College of Musical Arts
Dr. Stephen W. Hodge, newly retired from his position as Director of Choral Activities at the University of Toledo, has donated his personal collection of choral music to the College of Musical Arts. A 24-year member of the UT faculty, Dr. Hodge noted his appreciation that the choral faculty at BGSU has the interest and enthusiasm to see value in the donation. Independently appraised at $18,000, the acquisition will be used by choral students and faculty for many years to come.
Ten40 in tune with joys of singing
David Dupont of the Sentinel Tribune writes:
“Ten40 Acappella is a Bowling Green State University tradition in the making.
The 17-voice ensemble has been around five years, and traces it roots back four more years to the HeeBeeBGs, an ensemble that sprang from the men’ choir.
As the spring semester nears its end, and almost half the singers will be graduating, Ten40 is confident the ensemble will continue to strike a chord with campus and community audiences.
Ten40 will perform Saturday during Literacy in the Park in the Stroh Center. The event runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
At the event they will debut a brand new Disney medley. The number, which lasts more than seven minutes, took Will Baughman, one of the group’s two arrangers, all summer to arrange.
It’s the kind of challenge that Baughman and the group’s other arranger Michael Barlos, also current director, like to take on. And the current batch of singers are more than up for it.
“We know we can arrange the crazy stuff we hear in our heads because we have guys to do it,” Baughman, an Otsego High graduate, said during a recent interview.
“I don’t mind pushing the boundaries,” said Elias Dander, of Gibsonburg, who sings bass. “I like the challenge and the other guys do as well.”
They’re not afraid to employ all 12 voice parts.
The success of the group relies on more than vocal skill.
“The most important component to having a successful student organization is having a connection that’s deeper than just I’m in a club with this guy,” Baughman said.
“The stronger the bonds are off stage, the stronger the music sounds on stage,” Barlos said.
That was evident with the current edition from the start.
During auditions, “we look at the way they come in and interact with us, how they carry themselves,” Baughman said. “It’s about 60 percent of what we look for.”
That’s fostered by regular meet ups outside of rehearsal time, and dinners after rehearsals.
Dandar said regular socializing pays off when Ten40 gets down to work. “It allows us to have more focused rehearsal time because we know we can go out afterward.”
Ten40 also benefits from another special ingredient, its advisor Pat Pauken.
Pauken got involved with Ten40 after he heard the group perform for BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey.
Baughman relishes giving Pauken’s full name – “Dr. Patrick David Pauken,” then adds “teacher, mentor, coach, friend.”
“He was that extra push we needed,” Barlos said.
Ten40 traces its roots to the HeeBeeBGs, an a cappella ensemble that started as part of the BGSU Men’s Chorus.
As the ensemble’s popularity grew, the members wanted to do more and more independent gigs, Barlos said. So it was suggested the ensemble split off and become its own student-run organization.
This spring Ten40 won the quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella held in Bowling Green. Then the group placed third in the semifinals in Ann Arbor, Michigan. That gave them a sliver of a chance to win a wild card spot in the finals held in New York City.
Their repertoire is broad ranging from Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” to current rock hits by Switchfoot, Foo Fighters and Mutemath.
“We have to keep up with what’s popular,” Baughman said. “We pride ourselves on being well rounded.”
That will come to the fore when Ten40 hits the road May 18, for a six-day tour that will take them into the Cleveland area and southern Michigan. They will sing in a variety of venues – churches, arts centers, classrooms, school auditoriums and on May 22 the Toledo Mud Hens game.
The ensemble, Barlos said, sees itself as promoting BGSU and the College of Musical Arts, though not all the members are music majors.
The tour also helps the ensemble make contact with potential members. Baughman said he first heard Ten40 at his high school.
Being involved in singing provides joy that extends well beyond the college years.
All three men said they expect to continue singing all their lives.
Dandar said, he’ll keep at it “as long as someone wants to sing with me.”
BGSU Opera Theatre presents “Dialogues of the Carmelites”
BOWLING GREEN, O. – Francis Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites” will be presented at 8 p.m. March 27 and 3 p.m. March 29 in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre in the Wolfe Center for the Arts on the BGSU campus.
Poulenc’s powerful 1957 opera, about an order of Carmelite nuns who refuse to renounce their beliefs in the wake of the French Revolution, is presented in collaboration with BGSU’s Department of Theatre and Film. The opera is directed by Nicholas Wuehrmann and features the orchestra conducted by Dr. Emily Freeman Brown. In accordance with Poulenc’s wishes that the opera be performed in the language of its audience, BGSU’s production will be sung in the composer’s approved English translation by Joseph Machlis.
With social unrest rippling through Paris, a timid young woman leaves her aristocratic family to seek refuge at a convent in northern France. She strives to align with her fellow sisters, who soon discover they must either abandon their monastery or face certain execution. Their act of defiance in the face of fear becomes a gripping, emotional story of loyalty, redemption, and sacrifice.
“Poulenc’s soaring score is served beautifully by The BGSU Opera Theater, and the universal themes of war, persecution, fear, faith and love are given a unique treatment by our production which transcends time,” noted Nicholas Wuehrmann, visiting director for the opera. Wuehrmann is an actor/singer/director living in New York City. He performs in musical theater, film and television, Shakespeare, comedy and drama, opera and operetta, and with symphonies.
Tickets for “Dialogues of the Carmelites” are $15 for adults and $5 for students or children when purchased in advance. On the day of the performance, all tickets are $20. To purchase tickets, visit bgsu.edu/Arts or call the Arts Box Office at 419.372.8171.
Summer Music Institute at BGSU boosts young musicians’ skills
BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University’s critically acclaimed Summer Music Institute is open for registration. Presented by the College of Musical Arts, the institute features nine weeklong sessions, ranging from woodwinds to voice, brass and musical theater. Students will work with BGSU music faculty and guest artists who will challenge and inspire in a college setting. Register at BGSU.edu/SMI before April 30 for $40 off the registration fee.
Session one (June 14-19) includes Piano Camp, Double Reed Camp, Recording Camp, String Camp and Musical Theater. During Piano Camp, students receive private lessons, participate in master classes, play piano duos, attend recitals and perform. In Double Reed Camp, students get hands-on experience making reeds, performing in master classes and honing techniques on bassoon and oboe. Students signed up for Recording Camp, for ages 15-18, will experience a professional sound studio from both sides of the glass, performing and coordinating a recording. String students will receive coaching from the BGSU string faculty and special guests. Advanced string students are encouraged to apply for the Honors String Quartet. Members of the Honors String Quartet receive a full scholarship to cover housing, meals and the registration fee. Musical Theater Camp will focus on audition techniques.
Session two (June 21-26) comprises Brass Camp, with ensembles, private lessons, seminars and performances; Super Sax Camp, which explores both classical and improvised jazz music in private lessons, chamber rehearsals, improvisation clinics and concerts; Flute Camp, whose students will receive private lessons, seminars and master classes as well as breathing, sound, articulation and technique lessons; and Vocal Arts Camp, which educates campers in diction, vocal interpretation, audition techniques, stage deportment and other performance skills. Vocal students must be entering grade 10 or higher.
Students may commute to camp or stay on campus during the week. No audition is required. Recording students must be at least 15 years of age, though exceptions can be made.
Check-in times for each camp are the first day of camp on Sunday between 1 and 3 p.m. For more information and to register, visit BGSU.edu/smi or call 419-372-2506.
A Capella Choir to Premiere New Work
The A Cappella Choir will perform the world premiere of Sven-David Sandström’s “Vanity of Vanities” on its fall campus concert scheduled for Saturday, November 15 at 4 p.m. in the Donnell Theater.
The prolific Swedish composer has set Ecclesiastes 1: 2-11, whose message is that life is futile when it is based on earthly ambitions and desires. The piece is slated to be published by Santa Barbara Music on the newly-established Bowling Green State University Choral Series. Mark Munson is director of the A Cappella Choir.
For tickets and more information click here.