News and Notices

 “This group is first about people, and we use music as a vehicle,” said Zahn. “We go out and help people.”

 

“Not to say that we don’t want to put on the best performances possible, but this is about raising funds to help others, and we happen to have fun doing it.”

 

The 70-plus member group does not receive payment for performances, but instead uses donations to help civic organizations.

 

Travelin’ Shoes performs in communities in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

Two weeks after a judge said the city’s Department of Education could not close 19 schools as planned, one of the schools is back on the city’s agenda to be shuttered.

 

The new plan to close the school — which is actually not a school per se, but the high school grades of the Choir Academy of Harlem — is on the agenda for the Panel for Educational Policy meeting on April 20 in Brooklyn.

 

While this is the first of the 19 schools that the city is making a second attempt to close, it is also something of a unique case. That’s because the new proposal to close the Choir Academy’s high school was developed before the judge’s ruling.

Since 2002, April 16 has been recognized as World Voice Day, a chance to educate the public about the voice and voice care, and to celebrate the glories of the voice in cross-disciplinary events such as concerts, symposia, and private receptions. The idea began in Brazil and is now marked worldwide. Many voice clinics offer free screenings around this date. Look for events in your area; remind your singers about good vocal health; or at least take a colleague to a pat-on-the-back lunch!

 

C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective is launching its first commissioning competition. The group will give five finalists the opportunity to compose new works for C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, and to participate in the rehearsal process. All five new works will be premiered on March 3 and 5, 2011, in New York City. First prize is $2,000, second prize is $800. The remaining three finalists will receive honorable mention prizes of $400. Travel stipends are available for non-NYC composers. This competition is made possible by grants from The David and Minnie Berk Foundation and the Yale School of Music alumniVentures program. No entry fee.

 

Please see our website–c4ensemble.org–for more details and the application form.

England — A man who joined a choir in 1940 in Somerset when he was eight years old has celebrated 70 years of singing with the same church group.

 

 

 

Folks attending the Saenger Theater to hear some traditional Mississippi music Saturday night received an unexpected earful of some fire-and-brimstone preaching by an audience member who took aim at the sinful behavior of homosexuals, adulterers and divorced people.

 

The incident began approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the concert, when a young white man with a guitar – invited on stage by the gospel choir of Southern Miss’ African American Student Organization, which was performing at the time – began to preach to the audience, asking such questions as, “Who will stand up for Jesus?” and “Is there a minister in the house?”