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This article by Kathleen Shaw appeared in the Nov. 22, 2020, Daily News-Record.

Dressed in a traditional black gown with hair neatly curled to her shoulders, senior soprano Kiara Kiah opened the annual ��ݮ���� orchestral gala with a delicate duet of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” with professor and baritone James Richardson. But Richardson was nowhere near Kiah for her performance — in fact, he was miles away in Virginia while Kiah stood on the stage of First Presbyterian Church of Athens in Georgia alone.

On Saturday, the EMU music department hosted a made-for-broadcast special premiere of the annual gala concert on Facebook Live with the theme “A Concert of Hope.” The evening performance featured musicians recorded inside and outside, near and far, spanning various genres and brought together with a message of fortified perseverance amid a pandemic.

Kiah, who moved to Georgia in September, is completing her studies online and said finishing her career at EMU by performing in the gala was a rewarding experience that pushed her comfort zone and flexed the boundaries of possibilities.

“It definitely felt weird because instead of having a person next to you, as you’d sing a classic duet, you had to listen to the person in your ear. But, they’re not actually next to you, so you have to be creative,” she said. “It was a bare slate and was up to me to create the scene.”

Kimberlea Daggy, of musical radio programs “All Things Considered” on WMRA and “Air Play” on WEMC, hosted the virtual gala.

Department chair and pianist David Berry said 2020 has been marked by countless loss and changes, so hope can feel easily diminished, but music is a universal balm for drained spirits.

“Music speaks so well to situations like these in times when it’s hard to find anything to latch onto. Music can lead the way and often be the thing that can speak to such a time,” he said.

As in years past, the gala featured the talents of EMU’s Jazz Band, Wind Ensemble, Chamber Singers and the EMU Orchestra along with faculty soloists and special guest artists.

Embracing the experimental nature of 2020, this year’s special guests were notably not orchestral acts but offered a fuller scope of music’s capability to intersect genres. The first, AppalAsia, is a Pittsburgh-based, world-folk group that blends instruments of Western and Eastern origins and performed an original song “Four Hills.”

Harrisonburg-based contemporary roots music group The Steel Wheels also joined to play alongside university students and bring an unfamiliar arrangement to a popular melody.

Eric Brubaker is an EMU class of 2001 graduate, but he’s better known for playing the fiddle and co-founding The Steel Wheels. Brubaker practiced both classical and folk styles of music growing up and was a concertmaster during his EMU days. He said returning to EMU and arranging “Sing Me Like a Folk Song” along with the directors of Red Wing Academy, Megan Tiller and Kelly Wiedemann, to perform alongside the university’s orchestra felt like coming full circle.

“To bring my experiences in being a touring musician and also playing more informal styles, bluegrass-influenced styles,” Brubaker said. “To be able to mesh that with the classical music setting is something that interests me in a way where you can find some common ground between the different styles, and that’s exciting to me.”

Brubaker said “Sing Me Like A Folk Song” is a metaphorical tune comparing folk music to the connection between people, but the orchestral arrangement reimagined the meaning to encompass the bridges between classical and Americana, bluegrass styles.

“To be able to reach into those different worlds and create something that combines those two in a different way hopefully sort of gives a way we can continue to reach across all different kinds of divides,” he said.

Donations from the evening benefited the EMU music student scholarship fund.

“There’s something for everyone in this program but in a way I feel like it always comes back to those themes of hope,” Berry said. “It’s the best of technology coming together with that timeless sound of a choir, to still be able to do that in this season.”

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David Berry, chair of ��ݮ����’s music department, makes no secret of the vision behind the university’s upcoming made-for-broadcast special premiere of the annual Gala Concert.

Always the highlight of EMU’s thriving musical culture, this year’s gala will be a “magnificent evening of music,” Berry said, adding that its inspiration comes from arts broadcasts such as the Kennedy Center Honors. And for musicians who have been unable to perform in front of live audiences, the event offers a rare opportunity for artistic collaboration. That joy alone, notes Berry, is worth tuning in for.

“We want this evening to offer a much-needed message of hope and inspiration for uncertain times through a wide array of beautiful, exciting, and eclectic musical performances,” he said in a recent interview.

Register to watch via Zoom at and participate in a special talkback after the show.

The gala (but NOT the talkback) will be streamed on on Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. [Note that you do not need a Facebook account to access the page.]

The concert is free, with 100% of donations benefiting the EMU music student scholarship fund. Please consider giving at least the price of a ticket to the .

Just as in last year’s sensational performance with Phantom of the Opera star Janinah Burnett, the concert will feature the EMU Jazz Band, the Wind Ensemble, Chamber Singers and the EMU Orchestra along with faculty soloists and special guest artists.

“This year, we welcome The Steel Wheels and AppalAsia, two acclaimed groups which will bring a new flavor of roots music and world music to our gala stage,” Berry said.

Classical music radio host Kimberlea Daggy, of the NPR affiliates WMRA/WEMC, will emcee the event for the second consecutive year. Daggy and the Steel Wheels’ Trent Wagler ’02 will join Berry for a 30-minute talkback after the concert.

The, the nationally recognized Shenandoah Valley-based roots music band and a longtime favorite of EMU audiences, is comprised of alumni Wagler, Eric Brubaker ’01, and Brian Dickel ’98, as well as bandmates Jay Lapp and Kevin Garcia. They’ll join the EMU orchestra to give the premiere performance of a new arrangement of “Sing Me Like a Folk Song,” a track off their 2017 studio album “Wild As We Came Here.” []

is a Pittsburgh-based trio that one music critic has hailed as “” he’d ever heard. The band blends instruments of Western and Eastern origin, combining the traditional Chinese two-stringed fiddle (the erhu), played by Mimi Jong, with the dulcimer and banjo, played by Jeff Berman and Sue Powers, respectively.

Music faculty Berry and Kim Souther will play an original version of Libertango by the celebrated Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola. 

Berry is an active concert pianist whose performances have been featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and the Kimmel Center.

Souther, a multi-style cellist who has toured with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, is the newest member of the EMU music faculty and serves as director of the Shenandoah Valley Preparatory Music program.

Award-winning baritone and voice professor James Richardson will pair with soprano Kiara Kiah ‘20 in a duet from Mozart’s The Magic Flute accompanied by the EMU Orchestra. Kiah was a winner in the Mid-Atlantic Region National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition and is a 2020 Cords of Distinction recipient, an honor that recognizes graduating seniors who have made outstanding contributions to the university, community or society.  

Led by faculty conductors Benjamin Bergey and Robert Curry, the student ensembles will present a variety of choral and instrumental musical selections ranging from the music of Beethoven through classic jazz standards.

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First published 10/26/2020.