Concert Choir premieres a student's musical memorial
October 13, 2009Featuring the World Premiere of a composition by student Anthony Sinigaglio II, the Rowan Concert Choir offers its first performance of the academic year, Soundscapes: 20th and 21st Century Choral Works, on Saturday, October 17 at 8 pm in the university’s Pfleeger Concert Hall.
Under the direction of Dr. Thomas Kim, making his first appearance as conductor, the choir debuts Sinigaglio’s As We Remember. The program also includes Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, Veljo Tormis’ St. John’s Day Songs and Knut Nystedt’s Immortal Bach.
Kim calls the music “exciting, dramatic and beautiful” and notes that the theme comes from the fact that “we are well into the 21st century and it’s important to take stock of where we’ve been musically” in the recent past.
Sinigaglio, a junior Vocal Music Education major from Penns Grove, wrote his composition in response to the death of a close friend and found unusual inspiration along the way.
“What makes this piece so special, aside from the fact that it was written for a dear friend, is that at times during the composition process I felt as though I wasn't ‘composing’ at all,” Sinigaglio says. “The notes were simply flowing onto the page.”
The new interim director of the Concert Choir at Rowan, Kim received his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado and his Master of Music in Choral Conducting at the University of Wisconsin. He has served on the faculty at Smith College in Massachusetts as Associate Director of Choral Studies, and at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. While in the Boston area, he was Assistant Conductor of the Harvard Glee Club and founding director of Boston’s Arts Novo Chorus, now Coro Allegro. Kim is a tenor vocalist and has performed numerous solo recitals as well as leading roles in opera and concert repertoire.
Pfleeger Concert Hall is located in Wilson Hall on the campus of Rowan University, Route 322 in Glassboro, NJ. Admission to this performance is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For directions and additional information, contact the box office at (856)-256-4545 or visit www.rowan.edu/fpa.
