The UTC Music Department will present Women’s Chorale and Men’s Chorus in concert, conducted by Lee Harris and Rebecca Atkins. This fall concert will take place at the UTC Fine Arts Center, Roland Hayes Concert Hall, 752 Vine St., on Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and the performance is open to the general public.
Women’s Chorale, conducted by Dr. Atkins, and accompanied by pianist Amber Snow, will open the concert with “Now is the Month of Maying” by Thomas Morley, “The Water is Wide” as adapted by Luigi Zaninelli, Charles Gounod’s “Da Pacem Domine,” and “Kling, Glöchken, Kling.”
Men’s Choir, conducted by Mr. Harris, will perform folk songs, spirituals, and hymn arrangements, including: “When Good Men Sing” by David T. Plank, “O Vos Omnes (O Ye People)” by Pablo Casals, “Gloria” by Eugene Butler, “Ave Maria” by Tomás Luis de Victoria, “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow” by R. Nathaniel Dett, “Mary Had a Baby” by William L. Dawson, and “Go Where I Send Thee” as arranged by Uzee Brown, Jr.
Both choirs will combine forces for a grand finale which will be comprised of “Somagwaza,” a traditional South African Song arranged by Lawrence Kaptein and Carolyn Lyon, “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind” by John Rutter, both of which will be conducted by Rebecca Atkins, and P.D.Q. Bach’s “Good King Kong Looked Out”, which will be conducted by Lee Harris
Mr. Harris has served as head of the UTC Music Department since 2003. He is an associate professor of Music, teaching Ear Training, Elementary Music Methods, Women's Chorale, and Graduate Music Education courses. Prior to arriving at UTC, he served as the music institute director at the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts. He is certified in the Orff-Schulwerk and Kodály approaches to music education and directs the Kodály Institute at UTC, which he established in 2000.
Dr. Atkins joined UTC’s Music Department as an assistant professor of Music Education (Choral) in the Fall of 2013. She recently completed her Ph.D. in Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin, and earned her M.M. in Choral Conducting at Missouri State University. Her current research focuses on the effects of attention on vocal tone quality, and she is drawn to research questions that pertain to the development of performance skills and the refinement of pedagogy. She served as assistant instructor for the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at The University of Texas during her Doctoral program and as the Teaching Assistant of Theory and Ear--training at Missouri State during her Master’s program. Dr. Atkins performs with the Conspirare Symphonic Choir, and serves as clinician and adjudicator for area choirs and competitions.
For more information call the Music office at 425-4601 or visit http://www.utc.edu/music/projects/performances.php