Thursday, April 05, 2012

Bridgewater's Jesse Hopkins to direct final concert choir performance.

The 32-voice Bridgewater (Va.) College Concert Choir will wrap up its spring concert tour with a performance at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15, in the Carter Center for Worship and Music on the college campus.

The Concert Choir and the college’s Chorale are directed by Jesse E. Hopkins, Edwin L. Turner Distinguished Professor of Music. The concert is a farewell for Hopkins, who is retiring at the end of the academic year after 34 years of teaching at the college. A reception for Hopkins will follow the concert.

Concert and reception are open to the public at no charge. In addition to the Concert Choir, the concert will feature the 20-voice Chorale and a student-directed Handbell Choir. The repertory will include works from the Renaissance through contemporary classical music.

Among the pieces the Concert Choir will perform are “Ave Maria” by Josquin Desprez, “Sing Unto God” from Judas Maccabaeus by G.F. Handel, and “Alleluia” by Stephen Paulus. The program also includes “Gloria” from Missa Criolla by Ariel Ramirez, “Mary Had a Baby” by William L. Dawson, and “May the Road Rise to Meet You” by Hopkins. Selections by the Chorale include “Easter Alleluia” by Brent Pierce, “How Can I Keep from Singing?” by Ronald Staheli, and William L. Dawson’s “Ain’-a That Good News.”

Hopkins, a 1970 graduate of Bridgewater College, holds a master of music education degree from James Madison University and a doctorate in choral music education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined the Bridgewater faculty in 1977.

-- Mary Kay Heatwole is editorial assistant for Media Relations at Bridgewater College.

Source:4/5/2012 Newsline

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