Choir releases CD, announces local concerts

March 20, 2009
Contact: Karen B. Eldridge, Director of News and Public Information
865.981.8207; karen.eldridge@maryvillecollege.edu

Local music fans will have several opportunities in the next month to see and hear the Maryville College Concert Choir perform.

A CD release concert and party are scheduled for 7 p.m., March 26 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Maryville. The newest choir CD, entitled “A Scots-American Musical Journey,” includes recordings of performances given during May 2008 when choir members toured and performed in Scotland. The CD also includes photographs taken on the tour.


An order form is available for download by clicking here.

At St. Andrew’s, the choir is expected to perform some of the same songs featured on the CD. A reception follows the performance at 8 p.m.

Cost of the CDs are $20 and will be available for purchase at the church and the College’s Fine Arts Department located in the basement of Thaw Hall.

On March 27, the Choir will present its annual Homecoming Concert at 8 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Maryville.

The Homecoming Concert celebrates the end of Choir Tour 2009, which took musicians to Kentucky and Ohio. The theme of the 2009 tour was “Harps Eternal,” and the repertoire for it – and the March 27 concert – includes Cold Mountain’s “I’m Going Home,” the Shaker melody “Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal,” the African-American spiritual “Keep your Lamps” and the gospel composition “Hope for Resolution,” among others.

“The theme for this year’s tour was one of hope during times of trial,” explained Stacey Wilner, the choir director and coordinator of choral music at the College, while describing the music she and her members prepared for performances. “Mozart's ‘Lacrimosa,’ from his famous Requiem, is a plea for mercy and rest. The choir also prepared ‘Hope for Resolution’ which is by gospel composers Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory and features an unusual pairing an anti-apartheid song from South Africa and a European chant melody.”

The choir will give a concert at 7 p.m., April 6 at the Blount County Public Library and will also perform during the 11 a.m. service at Sequoyah Presbyterian Church in Knoxville on April 26.

All concerts are free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated.

For more information, contact Wilner at 865.981.8151 or stacey.wilner@maryvillecollege.edu.

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state's third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2009 semester is 1,103.