FROM STAFF REPORTS

The University of Montevallo Concert Choir will perform at the historic Carnegie Hall in New York on Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. for the 2019 Gotham SINGS! Choral Festival and Ensemble Showcase.

Festival organizers, Sechrist Travel, selected the UM Concert Choir to perform based on their international choral performances.

“We carefully select and invite only top choral programs,” said Sean Berg, Sechrist Travel’s executive director. “These choirs are selected for their stellar reputations and exemplary work on the national and international level and the unprecedented choral music education opportunities and performances offered at each institution.”

Under the direction of Dr. Melinda Doyle, associate professor of music, the concert choir is the premier choral ensemble at the University of Montevallo.

“To be selected to perform as featured ensemble at such a beloved and historic musical venue is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students. It is my goal to be able to provide such experiences, so our students gain greater appreciation for the choral art form,” Doyle said.

The concert opens with the Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale followed by the University of Montevallo Concert Choir featuring faculty soloist Dr. Roderick George, tenor.

The concert culminates with a commemoration of the centennial of the WWI armistice and Celebration of Peace, featuring the Gotham SINGS! Festival Chorus and Orchestra in a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “Dona Nobis Pacem.”

“Performing on the Carnegie Hall stage is an amazing opportunity for our students and it will likely be one of those enriching experiences that they will cherish for years to come,” George said.

In addition to the Carnegie Hall performance, the choir is slated to make appearances at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City and Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

For more information and tickets for the Carnegie performance, visit Carnegiehall.org.