April 16, 2007

Wallace State Choir Performs Cultural Arts Week Finale

HANCEVILLE, Ala.- For the Cultural Arts Week finale at Wallace State
Community College in Hanceville on Sunday, the Wallace State Concert
Choir performed a selection of songs from their upcoming spring tour
repertoire in a program titled "Missa Sancti Johannes de Deo: Psalms,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs."

Choir Director Mike Sparks discusses the Haydn mass

The concert began with three psalms: "How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place"
by Aaron David Miller, "I Waited for the Lord" by Felix Mendelssohn
featuring sopranos Brianna Moore and Kayla Haney, and "All That Have
Life and Breath" by Rene' Clausen.



The program's centerpiece was Franz Joseph Haydn's "Missa Brevis Sancti
Joannis de Deo." The six movements of the small organ mass-Kyrie,
Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei-included a solo by
soprano Nicole Thrasher.



The mass was followed by a selection of hymns and spiritual songs,
including "The Solid Rock" by Carl Huddleston, "True Light" by Keith
Hampton featuring tenor Chase Crider and soprano Nicole Thrasher,
"Amazing Grace" by Allen Orton Gibbs featuring descant soprano Anna
Pelfrey, "Here's the One" by Mark Hayes with a solo by director Tiffany
Richter, and "Ride On, King Jesus" by Moses Hogan featuring mezzo
soprano Kimberlyn Bracy.

Mezzo soprano Kimberlyn Bracy is the featured soloist in "Ride On, King Jesus"

Members of the Concert Choir are Jessi Anders, Grace Ashley, Sarah
Bagley, Bracey, Gerod Berry, Hailey Berry, Hannah Bolton, Kari Burke,
Chris Bushey, Jacqueline Cox, Crider, Jordan Fitzgerald, Chelsea Hale,
Kayla Haney, Amber Henry, Candace Johnson, Trace King, Matthew Lewis,
Jessie Livingstone, Zach Lowery, Meleah Miller, Brianna Moore, Jona
Nelson, Roderic Morris, Katie Peek, Pelfrey, Mattie Ryan, Billy Smith,
Andrew Teal, Thrasher, Ben Trammel, Lela Tyler, Mattie Wood, and Dustin
Wren.

Director Tiffany Richter performs a solo in "Here's the One"

The choir is directed by Wallace State instructors Michael Sparks and
Tiffany Richter, with instructor Debora Chalkley as accompanist.



Earlier this week, the Music Department hosted an opera performance on
Monday, and a master class and open rehearsal for the Wallace State
choirs with visiting faculty from Texas State University on Tuesday. On
Wednesday, the theater department presented "Clue." Thursday featured
English Department guest Kathryn Tucker Windham. The Wallace State Jazz
Show Band put on an evening of dining and dancing to big band sounds
Friday. Saturday featured a juried art exhibition compliments of the
Wallace State Art Department.



For more information about any of the events scheduled for Cultural Arts
Week, call (256) 352-8128 or visit www.wallacestate.edu/events/caw.

Soloists Brianna Moore and Kayla Haney, sopranos, perform Mendelssohn's "I Waited for the Lord"

  Kristen Holmes
  Director, Communications and Marketing
  Wallace State Community College
  P.O. Box 2000
  Hanceville, AL 35077
  256/352-8118
  E-mail: Kristen.Holmes@WallaceState.edu