Concert Choir, Concert Band to perform spring concert April 14

Concert Choir, Concert Band to perform spring concert April 14

Northwest Missouri State University's Concert Choir and Concert Band will present their spring performance on Tuesday, April 14.

The concert begins at 7 p.m. in the Charles Johnson Theater at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. It is free and open to the public.

The Concert Band will perform works, including Robert Sheldon's "Choreography," John Mackey's "Foundry," David Holsinger's "On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss," and two Frank Erickson works "Sonatina for Band" and "Air for Band."

To conclude the concert, both ensembles will present a Beatles tune, "Can't Buy Me Love," under the direction of Dr. Max Gerhart, a lecturer of music at Northwest and the Concert Band conductor.

Gerhart noted the concert music is selected by student conductors, who chose pieces that resonated with them and featured specific elements they wanted to practice.

"You have a combination of music majors playing their primary instruments, which is what you would expect," Gerhart said. "But then we also have a lot of music majors that are playing with secondary instruments. We also have community members and high school students that are really serious about music that come and play with us, too. It's a really unique thing - something really cool that we offer."

Formed in 2024, the Concert Choir, under the direction of Associate Professor of Music Dr. Debbie Brown, is the newest chorale ensemble at Northwest. Conducted by faculty and students, the intergenerational group allows pre-service teachers an opportunity to gain hands-on teaching experience prior to student teaching.

Founded in 2021, the Concert Band features brass instruments, woodwinds, percussion and string bass. It performs music from a variety of time periods and styles, from historically significant works to new band compositions and premieres.

Both ensembles are open to all Northwest students, employees and community members. There are no auditions to join either ensemble.

To learn more about Northwest musical ensembles and upcoming performances, visit https://www.nwmissouri.edu/finearts/music/.