The Lee University School of Music will present the Masterworks concert on Saturday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Conn Center. Ensembles participating include Lee’s Choral Union, Chorale, and Symphony Orchestra. The performance will be conducted by Dr. Jonathan Rodgers.
All three ensembles will collaborate for a performance of Haydn’s “The Creation.” The three-part composition written in 1798 is considered Haydn’s masterpiece, which depicts the story of Creation as told through Genesis and Milton’s “Paradise Lost.”
“This is truly a masterwork,” said Dr. Rodgers. “Haydn’s ‘The Creation’ so powerfully evokes the majesty of the Creation story and our choruses and orchestra do a beautiful job of sharing the artistry behind it.”
Professors of voice Lenena Brezna, soprano; Tony Deaton, baritone; and James Frost, tenor, will be featured soloists throughout the work.
According to Dr. Rodgers, art program students have painted Creation scenes which will be on display that evening in the lobby of the Conn Center.
The evening will also include the announcement of Lee University’s recipient of the annual Presser Scholarship, an award given to students who demonstrate outstanding accomplishments in music performance at accredited colleges and universities across the country.
Choral Union is a blend of both music majors and non-music majors, and it specializes in choral music and major masterworks.
Lee University Chorale is an ensemble of vocalists who are selected by audition. An emphasis is placed on the diversity and breadth of traditional choral literature.
The Symphony Orchestra is an ensemble of select instrumentalists who perform operatic, choral, and other major symphonic works.
Dr. Rodgers, an assistant professor of music at Lee, directs Choral Union and Ladies of Lee. This semester he also conducts the Lee University Chorale, while the Dean of Lee’s School of Music Dr. William Green is away on sabbatical. Rodgers joined Lee’s faculty in 2013. He currently teaches choral conducting and literature classes, oversees the choral conducting curriculum, and supervises choral conductors in the graduate program.
This is a free, non-ticketed event, and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Lee University School of Music at 614-8240 or email music@leeuniversity.edu.