The Ball State University Singers, Indiana’s Official Goodwill Ambassadors,
have been invited to perform at the famed Carnegie Hall concert venue in New
York City.
The group is performing, along with the Indianapolis
Symphonic Choir and the Fort Hamilton High School Symphonic Band, in the May 29
Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) program, “English
Masters: Britten & Howells.” The performance begins
at 2 p.m. ET at Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Tickets are
available for purchase on the Carnegie Hall website.
In preparation for this performance, the University
Singers and the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir will present their “Carnegie Hall
Preview Concert” at 5 p.m. ET May 22 at Sursa Performance Hall on the Ball
State campus. This performance will feature a combined chorus of more than 80
singers accompanied by Sursa Hall’s magnificent Goulding & Wood pipe organ.
Tickets to this program, which will feature the choral
masterworks of Benjamin Britten and Herbert Howells, are also available for purchase.
Dr. Alan Alder, instructor
of music in Ball State’s School of Music, and
producer/director of the University Singers, said his group is grateful to
Michael Davis, conductor and assistant artistic director of the Indianapolis
Symphonic Choir, for inviting them to perform later this month at Carnegie
Hall. The May 22 performance at Sursa Hall, Dr. Alder said, will be an ideal
opportunity to rehearse their material in front of a live audience.
“A performance
such as this gives the members of the University Singers the chance to perform
music that is somewhat outside of the box in terms of what they usually
perform,” Dr. Alder said. “They typically perform a wide range of popular
music, but for this event they will be performing some very significant
traditional music by two important British composers from the 20th
Century—Benjamin Britten and Herbert Howells.”
Since 1964, the
University Singers have been recognized as one of America’s top collegiate
entertainment organizations. The group, open to all majors by audition, is
composed of 40 students including singers, dancers, instrumentalists, and sound
technicians. The touring ensemble, recognized as Indiana’s Official Goodwill
Ambassadors, performs multiple times per year throughout the state and nation,
ending each season with the “Spectacular” performance on Ball State’s campus.
For more
information, and for a list of upcoming events, visit the University Singers website.