University Singers and Scranton Brass Orchestra Headline Concert

On Sunday, May 4, The University of Scranton Singers will present a concert in collaboration with Scranton Brass Orchestra. Presented by Performance Music at The University of Scranton, the concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. inside the University’s Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue, downtown Scranton. Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.

According to Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga, the concert will feature a short program by each group, followed by the performance of three pieces by the combined groups. Brass Orchestra works to be performed include excerpts from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” arranged by Ray Farr and a lush arrangement of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” by Alan Fernie. The choir will perform Vaclav Nelhybel’s epic work “Epitaph for a Soldier.”

Founded by Boga and Hal Baillie, Ph.D., and now in its 13th season, Scranton Brass Orchestra is a fully professional 28-member ensemble comprised of brass and percussion players/teachers from across the region. Since its founding in June 2011, the group’s performances have been free and open to the public, and have featured nationally and internationally acclaimed guests, among them some of the most acclaimed brass players of our time. Some of the goals of the group include to provide high level large brass ensemble performance and listening opportunities, serve as an aural and visual model to aid in the tonal and technical development of student brass players and as a professional development resource for brass performers and teachers in the region, and give participating regional brass musicians and teachers opportunities to work with and observe masters of the art of brass playing.

The University of Scranton Singers, founded in the early 1960s by the late Norbert Betti, is an SATB ensemble made up of students from majors spanning the University’s curriculum, brought together by their love of music. They are known for their eclectic and diverse styles of programming.

The primary focus of Performance Music at The University of Scranton is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. There is no music major at the University, and all enrolled Scranton students (undergraduate and graduate) from every major are eligible for membership in the University bands, choirs and string ensembles, with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year. Other programs within the department, including guest artist concerts, World Premiere Composition Series, Nelhybel Collection, and Scranton Brass Orchestra, closely coordinate programming with the student ensembles and offer unique opportunities for student musicians in the ensembles to hear, observe, interact and perform with numerous world-class musicians and artist-teachers.

For further information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music.