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College Community Chorus presents Spring Concert, Sunday, May 5
The 90 members of the Middlebury Community Chorus present their spring concert on Sunday, May 5. Most all the works on the program receive their first-ever Vermont performance at the 3pm concert. Conductor Jeff Rehbach remarks, “We hope the music and lyrics at our spring concert—spanning the globe and from across the centuries—will lift spirits as spring and summer return to Vermont. As the lyrics of our songs suggest, within our singing we can hear words of healing, the melding of the parts to whole, the very language of the soul; any song we sing every word will rhyme, running through the summer sunshine!”
The choir welcomes guest violinist Romy Munkres, a Middlebury Union High School junior and the Young Tradition Vermont 2018 contest winner. She will play solo fiddle as the chorus accompanies her in a traditional Norwegian song, Gropen, a lively dance tune. From Celtic traditions, the ensemble offers Aisling (meaning ‘dream’ or ‘vision’) scored for solo violin and gently accompanied by the choir and piano.
The program features pieces in contrasting styles by American composers Gwyneth Walker and Susan LaBarr who set the poetry of Sara Teasdale for the songs Refuge and Grace Before Sleep, as well as music by composer Kyle Pederson, a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, who combines Arabic and English texts in Hands are Knockin’.
Also on the program, Norwegian-American composer Ola Gjeilo’s song The Rose lyrically portrays the this flower’s beauty; Irish composer Michael McGlynn’s Sunshine joyfully celebrates the coming of summer, while Haitian-American composer Sydney Guillaume’s Kanaval portrays the festive atmosphere of a mardi gras celebration in his homeland. Music faculty member Damascus Kafumbe adds vibrant color to this piece with special percussion instrumentation.The program includes dynamic choruses from Handel’s rarely performed The Triumph of Time and Truth – a work based on one of his earliest Italian oratorios, and then rewritten in the final years of his life. The choir will also sing Handel’s lovely Music, Spread Thy Voice Around. In these pieces, College students, staff, and community members sing solo parts, including Harper Baldwin ’19, Hannah Resnick ’21, Tahira Hasan ’21, Mingjui Gao ’21, Betty Kafumbe, Anna de Boer, and Louise Whalen Wright.
Chorus members hail from nearly two dozen towns throughout the Champlain Valley, and with student members from across the globe. Jeff Rehbach conducts, with Tim Guiles accompanying at the piano.
April 17, 2019 | Defense Against the Digital Dark Arts 101: What Is Going On with Your Personal Information?
The Office of Digital Learning & Inquiry (DLINQ) recently launched the Defense Against the Digital Dark Arts (DADDA) initiative. Our first DADDA conversation will show you how websites are collecting your personal information, and will show you some simple strategies for understanding and managing the information that is being collected about you. This introductory session is open to all. Learn more about the session and sign-up to attend at go.middlebury.edu/dlinqevents
Announcing the 2019 Middlebury College Public Service Leadership Awards
We are pleased to announce the Middlebury College 26th Annual Public Service Leadership Awards. Public service takes shape in many different ways—through volunteering, activism, scholarship, social innovation, and advocacy—and these awards recognize our student body’s contributions to Middlebury College, the surrounding community, and beyond. We appreciate your collaborations with students to problem-solve, research, and strive to build stronger communities.
We hope you will consider nominating a Middlebury College student for an award. For more information and to nominate a student, please click here. The deadline for nominations is April 11, 2019.
Questions? Please contact Ashley Laux, Program Director, Center for Community Engagement at (802) 443-3099 or alaux@middlebury.edu.
2019 Friends of the Art Museum Award Nominations!
The Friends of the Middlebury College Museum of Art invite you to nominate a current Middlebury College Student whose contribution to the visual arts in the community merits distinction. The Friends have made an annual award to a college student for approximately two decades. Recipients have included sculptors, filmmakers, painters, critics for The Campus, Museum volunteers, and founders of the M Gallery. Anyone [barring a relative of the nominee] can make a nomination. The award will be presented on Sunday, May 5, at Kirk House, at the Friends’ Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner. The nominator and winner will be guests of the Museum.
Nominations are due Wednesday, April 3, 2019
For information and nomination forms, go to: museum.middlebury.edu/news/awards or call Mikki Lane: (802) 443-2309
25 years @ MIIS with Sherre Kruft
Sherre Kruft, Admissions Office III at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, recently passed her 25-year mark of employment. Over the years, Sherre has been the bedrock of the Admissions Office for many years and was awarded the Institute’s Above & Beyond Award in 2009 for her many contributions to the Institute. Sherre took a few minutes to share her thoughts on “Life at the Institute” over the past two and a half decades.
What did you do prior to coming to work at the Middlebury Institute and where were you located?
I was in customer service in southern California and Monterey for about twenty years before joining Middlebury.
What job titles have you held while working at the Middlebury Institute?
Custom Language Services/Summer Intensive Language Program Administrative Assistant, Admissions Assistant, Admissions Officer.
Many people change jobs/careers multiple times in their working life. Something must have kept you here for 25 years. Is it anything that you can put into words?
I really enjoy the constant learning aspect of international credential evaluation. The Admissions Office is ever evolving and changing in order to try to meet the needs of prospective students.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new employee at MIIS, what would it be?
Use active listening skills and be kind.
Is there anything else that you would like to share about your time at MIIS?
I have had a wonderful experience here. There are too many people I have worked with and admire for different reasons to name. Our prospective students are amazing and awe inspiring. I love how they plan to make a difference in so many diverse ways.
College Community Chorus begins new season
The Middlebury College Community Chorus announces a new season as its singers prepare for their annual spring concert, with an intriguing mix of pieces about time, seasons, and places. Regular rehearsals take place on Sunday and Tuesday evenings from 7:00-8:30 p.m. on the college campus, beginning January 27.
Students, alumni, community members enjoy rehearsal before last fall’s concert (photo: Silvia Cantu)
Rehearsals from January 27 through February 12 take place at the Mahaney Arts Center (room 221). As of February 17, rehearsals move to Mead Chapel. Historic, traditional, and contemporary music from across the globe will fill the hour-long program slated for performance the first weekend in May.
On this spring’s program, the choir will sing Gropen, a lively traditional Norwegian tune arranged for chorus with fiddle. Young Tradition Vermont award-winning high school student Romy Munkres from Cornwall VT will play with us. We also will perform Sunshine, an upbeat tune about blue sky and summer time, set by Irish composer Michael McGlynn. Also by McGlynn, we will offer Aisling, a quiet Celtic tune. Aisling means ‘dream’ or ‘vision’ and the work features a solo instrumental part that Romy will play.
Kanaval, a festive, fun work by Sydney Guillaume (born in Haiti, now living in the U.S.) depicts mardi gras in Haiti with a mix of tunes and rhythms influenced by traditional Haitian culture. Hands are Knockin’ includes words in both English and Arabic, a song by Kyle Pederson (who earned a master of fine arts degree in Vermont), written for an international school in Muscat, the capital of Oman, that asks if we will open our doors to all people.
In differing musical styles, we will prepare three newly composed songs with poetry by Sara Teasdale and Christina Rosetti, including Refuge, a radiant piece completed in 2015 by long-time Vermont composer Gwyneth Walker; Grace Before Sleep, a sensitive setting by Missouri-based composer Susan LaBarr; and The Rose,. a gentle tune with flowing piano accompaniment, by Norwegian-American composer Ola Gjeilo that portrays the picturesque beauty of this flower as it blossoms.
The program includes splendid historic choruses from a little known work by George Frederic Handel entitled The Triumph of Time and Truth, including a “Hallelujah” chorus (though not the one that many people know from “The Messiah”!) We will also sing one of Handel’s most beautiful choruses, Music Spread Thy Voice Around.
The choir invites new members to join us as we enjoy making music together. Participants should plan to attend at least one rehearsal each week. Numbering nearly 100 singers, the group welcomes without audition all who can follow a musical score and carry a tune accurately. Its members travel from throughout the region to participate in this 150-year-old community tradition, hosted by Middlebury College.
Jeff Rehbach continues in his nineteenth consecutive season as director of the College Community Chorus, and Timothy Guiles returns as the choir’s virtuoso accompanist.
For additional information, check on the web at go.middlebury.edu/communitychorus or send an inquiry to rehbach@middlebury.edu or 989-7355.
