The Penn Stater Magazine

Haydn’s “The Creation” in Eisenhower Auditorium

May 3, 2009 at 8:22 pm Tina Hay Leave a comment

The view from the back row of the chorus during rehearsal. There were a lot more people than this photo would suggest: 100-plus singers and 35 musicians.

I spent a pretty good chunk of time this weekend in Eisenhower Auditorium, taking part in rehearsals for, and then the performance of, Haydn’s The Creation. I sing alto in the State College Choral Society, a town-gown mix of singers that was marking its 60th-anniversary year with today’s big production. I say “big” because we don’t always sing in Eisenhower Auditorium with a 35-piece orchestra and soloists flown in from out of town.

I joined the Choral Society maybe five years ago and have really grown to enjoy classical choral music. These days I’m just as likely to pop Vivaldi’s Gloria into the CD player in the car as I am to listen to Mary Chapin Carpenter or the Eagles. A sure sign of middle age, I know.

I like the Monday night rehearsals (most of them, anyway—some are just hard work) and I’m very fond of our conductor/director, Russ Shelley ’97g—especially his patient, encouraging approach to teaching us the music, and his cheerful good humor in the face of an impending deadline. I’m constantly wishing I could do a better job of emulating his management style.

Today’s concert was a lot of fun, with an all-star cast of instrumentalists, including School of Music faculty Daryl Durran (bassoon), Smith Toulson (clarinet), and Lisa Bontrager (horn), among many others. We even had Kim Cook, the first-ever University Laureate, playing cello. And, oh my, could those soloists sing. The tenor was Richard Kennedy of the School of Music; the bass was a guy from New York City named Andrew Gangestad; and the soprano was Tamara Matthews, who teaches at Furman but who, rumor has it, flew in from Prague for the concert.

Choral music has a really long tradition at Penn State. One of these days we should do something on this in the magazine; it’s one of those topics that we just haven’t yet figured out how to shape into a story. But there are at least seven different choirs a Penn State student could join—from the Glee Club to the Concert Choir to Essence of Joy—and a lot of talented students and faculty doing great things with music.

Tina Hay, editor

Entry filed under: Campus events, College of Arts and Architecture, The Penn Stater magazine, University Park campus. Tags: "The Creation", Andrew Gangestad, Daryl Durran, Eisenhower Auditorium, Furman University, Haydn, Kim Cook, Lisa Bontrager, Penn State School of Music, Richard Kennedy, Russell Shelley, Smith Toulson, State College Choral Society, Tamara Matthews.