The Mansfield University Music Department invites you to celebrate the holiday season in a concert of choral music on the theme, “LOVE CAME DOWN.” Almost 200 musicians will perform, under the direction of Peggy Dettwiler, on Saturday, December 5, at 7:30 pm in Mansfield University’s Steadman Theatre in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, and on Sunday, December 6, at 7:30 pm in the Troy High School Memorial Auditorium in Troy, PA.

The concerts will feature a wonderful mixture of classical and popular pieces sung at times under the magic of candlelight.  Selections by Bach, Mendelssohn, Bruckner, Howells, and Hogan as well as other familiar holiday favorites for men’s, women’s, and mixed choirs from the Renaissance period to the 21st century that describe love in the sacred and secular world will resound from Mansfield University’s Steadman Theatre and Troy’s Auditorium.  Familiar carols and hymns for audience participation will add to the holiday spirit.  The choirs will combine for a celebratory finale, entitled “Rejoice,” written for voices, brass, organ, and percussion by Gwyneth Walker.

Tickets will sell for $10 to adults, $8 to senior citizens, and $5 to students and children and may be purchased on-line through the Mansfield University website at http://music.mansfield.edu or reserved by calling 570-662-4710.   Patrons are encouraged to arrive 30 minutes before concert time to get preferred seating.   Join us to experience in music how LOVE CAME DOWN.

“The Mansfield University Concert Choir and Mansfieldians swept the World Choir Games by storm with two championships and one 2nd place in Graz, Austria!  They won the categories entitled Gospel & Spiritual and Vocal Jazz A Cappella with scores of more than 92 and 89 points, respectively, out of 100.  In the Mixed Youth Choir category, the Concert Choir placed second to a choir from Japan with less than one-point difference (92.38 to 93.25.)  They were judged on intonation, tone quality, fidelity to the score, and artistic expression by six separate international panels of judges over the four-day competition.  Peggy Dettwiler, Director of Choral Activities at Mansfield, led the Concert Choir and Sheryl Monkelien, Associate Professor of Music Education, directed the Mansfieldians.  Overall, the Mansfield groups earned 6 gold medals in both qualifying and final rounds. They were ranked higher than 63 choirs from 18 countries:  Australia, Austria, China, Croatia, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and the USA.

The Fifth World Choir Games took place over eleven days between July 9 and 19 in Graz.  The Mansfield choirs participated in Part I of two parts that included 28 categories.  Overall, more than 20,000 singers in 441 choirs from 93 countries competed in the festival.”

The Annual Choral Collage, featuring all of the Mansfield University vocal ensembles, will take place on Saturday, October 25, at 7:30 pm in Steadman Theatre.  Almost 200 singers under the direction of Peggy Dettwiler and Sheryl Monkelien, as well graduate student conductors, John Hunter II and Masashi Kishimoto, will perform.  The ensembles include the Men’s and Women’s Choirs, Festival Chorus, Mansfieldians, and the Concert Choir.  The program will feature a wide variety of works from the Renaissance period through Gospel and Jazz styles — something to satisfy everyone’s taste!

Masashi Kishmoto, conductor in the MU Masters Degree Program, will lead the Women’s Choir on a unique Japanese folksong called “Hotaru Koi,” and John Hunter, also a student working on his Masters Degree, will take the podium leading the Men’s Chorus on a chorus by Franz Schubert.  The Festival Chorus will set the stage for the university’s spring major choral-orchestral works by presenting “Introit and Kyrie” from the Fauré Requiem and “Gloria” from Haydn’s Mass in Time of War. The Concert Choir, newly formed – but maintaining their championship excellence from their summer award-winning performances in Europe, will present a glorious English psalm motet by William Byrd, a lush 19th-Century German motet by Rheinberger, and a beautiful song composed for a wedding from the Biblical story of Ruth.   The Mansfieldians will delight the audience with their vocal jazz renditions including the popular, “Voice Dance.”

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear some fabulous choirs in their first appearance this year in Steadman Theatre!   Admission is free to all persons!