WKU News

NEW YORK, NY, April 29, 2019 – On Monday, June 10 at 8 pm, assembled on the stage of New York’s legendary Carnegie Hall will be a massed chorus of more than 150 voices, drawn from ensembles in three states, to be led by two conductors in one major masterpiece of choral music.

Dr. Paul Hondorp will be one of those conductors, making his Carnegie Hall debut leading a choir that will include the Southern Kentucky Choral Society, of which he is the Director. Dr. Hondorp will lead the first three movements of Dona Nobis Pacem by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams; Britt Cooper will be on the podium for the final two movements.

They will be joined in the performance, part of MidAmerica Productions’ 36^thconcert season, by Robyn Marie Lamp, soprano soloist; Jason Duika, baritone soloist; and the New England Symphonic Ensemble. The Southern Kentucky Choral Society will sing alongside members of the following ensembles:

• Canton Symphony Chorus, Canton, OH (Britt Cooper, Director)
• Bangor Area High School Choir, Bangor, PA (Joseph DiMInico, Director)

Dr. Hondorp says, “I am so excited to conduct this incredible piece of art – one of my very favorite works – on perhaps the most iconic concert stage in the world. The combination of Whitman’s poetry, scriptural texts and Vaughan Williams’ setting are incredibly powerful, and remain so today – more than 80 years after its premiere. It is difficult not to be moved by combined voices and orchestra as the words of the final movement come forth: “Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.’ Dona nobis pacem.” 

Vaughan Williams composed Dona Nobis Pacem in the uneasy years leading to the start of World War II, a plea for peace in a time of turmoil. The composer thought of the work as an English counterpart to Verdi’s Requiem. The text is assembled from several different sources, ranging from the Catholic mass to the poetry of Walt Whitman and – perhaps the only time this had ever been done – a speech delivered in the House of Commons of the British Parliament. 

Sharing the Playbill

The June 10 concert will also include another conducting debut, as Dr. Jim Taylor of LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas leads the New York premiere of his own Cambridge Songs Suite No. 2 and the Magnificat attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Vocal soloists for the Pergolesi will be Robyn Marie Lamp, soprano; Caitlin Redding, mezzo-soprano; David Guzman, tenor; and Jason Duika, baritone; Ms. Lamp and Mr. Duika will also perform solos in Dr. Taylor’s work. The New England Symphonic Ensemble will accompany both works, with a choir of more than 130 drawn from the following ensembles:

• Kingsmen Singers of Christian Heritage School, Trumbull, CT(Marjie Brake, Director)
• Warwick Valley Chorale, Warwick, NY (Stanley Curtis, Director)
• Henderson High School Choir, Henderson, TX (Jon P. Starling, Director)
• LeTourneau Singers, Longview, TX (Jim Taylor, Director)
• Longview Civic Chorus, Longview, TX (Jim Taylor, Director) 

Two other conductors – David L. Sharlow and Tom Jaber – will share the podium for a performance of John Rutter’s Requiem, with the New England Symphonic Ensemble; vocal soloist Caitlin Redding, mezzo-soprano; and a choir of more than 100 voices comprised of members of the following ensembles:

• Houston Masterworks Chorus, Houston, TX (Tom Jaber, Director)
• Purdy Concert Choir, Purdy, MO (Lauren Lee, Director)
• Missouri Southern Concert Chorale, Joplin, MO (David L. Sharlow, Director)
• Southern Symphonic Chorus, Joplin, MO (David L. Sharlow, Director)

A “Special Summer Presentation to New York City” prelude concert by the Mission Valley Chorus of Los Gatos, California will take place at 7 p.m. before the performance.

Purchase Tickets

Concerts in the Isaac Stern Auditorium/Ronald O. Perelman Stage are $150, $100, and $50. Tickets may be obtained by contacting CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57^th Street and 7^thAvenue in New York, NY, or by going online to www.carnegiehall.org). For more information, contact molly.waymire@piptix.com

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Paul Hondorp, Conductor

Paul Hondorp is Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at Western Kentucky University. A California native, Dr. Hondorp has taught at the community college and high school levels, and has been Director of Music at First Christian Church of Bowling Green since 2004. He has served as adjudicator, clinician and guest conductor for festivals of the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators National Conference in numerous states. He was named a 2017 ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program Conducting Fellow in Costa Rica; other international invitations include work in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Honduras and Canada. A lyric tenor, Hondorp sings regularly with Dallas-based Vox Humana, and performed with Oregon Bach Festival Chorus for seven summers. His professional recordings include ensemble performances with Vox Humana, the Oregon Bach Festival, Hot Springs Music Festival, and solo work for an educational series of compact discs by GIA Publications.  His book Choral Error Detection:  Exercises for Developing Musicianship is published by Carl Fischer Music. 

About Southern Kentucky Choral Society – Paul Hondorp, Director

As its mission statement pronounces, the Southern Kentucky Choral Society is “a partnership of campus and community dedicated to the choral art.”  With a focus on choral masterworks, the ensemble is comprised of students, faculty, and staff of Western Kentucky University, as well as community members, and has been in existence for almost 40 years.

About MidAmerica Productions

Maestro Peter Tiboris created and conducted his first concert in New York on January 7, 1984, at Lincoln Center, featuring The American Symphony Orchestra, soloists, and three choruses, the Louisiana Chorale of Acadiana, Camerata Singers of Baton Rouge, and Collegiate Chorale of New York. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, Mr. Tiboris had just started his own successful production company, MidAmerica Productions, which would become the foremost independent producer of choral concerts in Carnegie Hall. 

During its 36 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, soloists, and choral and instrumental ensembles from the U.S. and abroad to appear at New York’s top venues, including Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Weill Recital Hall, and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall; and Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall) at Lincoln Center. In addition to presenting instrumental and classic choral works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers with approximately 92 World Premieres, 21 United States Premieres and 99 New York Premieres.

Additionally, MidAmerica Productions has presented concerts in numerous U.S. cities and in countries throughout the world, including Greece, England, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Italy, France and Russia.

###

Media Contact: 

Daniel Guss

Director of Public Relations and Publications, MidAmerica Productions

212-239-0205 x 204

dguss@midamerica-music.com