{"id":33091,"date":"2017-04-18T17:06:34","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T21:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=33091"},"modified":"2017-06-22T15:11:34","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T19:11:34","slug":"ken-j-nafziger-conducts-final-chamber-singers-concert-featuring-alumni-guests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/ken-j-nafziger-conducts-final-chamber-singers-concert-featuring-alumni-guests\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken J. Nafziger conducts final Chamber Singers concert featuring alumni guests"},"content":{"rendered":"
The 草莓社区 (EMU) Chamber Singers<\/a>, a select student choir, will present \u201cCommunities of Song,\u201d its spring concert, at 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 23, in Lehman Auditorium. The program will be available via livestream at\u00a0http:\/\/emu.edu\/live-video\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The concert will be the choir’s last under the baton of Dr. Kenneth J. Nafziger<\/a>, who retires this spring after 39 years as a member of EMU’s music faculty.<\/p>\n For it, Nafziger has purposely sought out musicians in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley who can augment the more traditional selection of material offered in previous years.<\/p>\n The result is a highly eclectic program that employs the talents of a wide variety of performers with connections to EMU’s Music Department<\/a>, and to the Chamber Singers \u2013 past and present.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to do something special for this concert \u2013 something unique,\u201d said Nafziger. \u201cIt became an opportunity to include all kinds of people.\u201d<\/p>\n Among them are several EMU graduates, as well as current and former colleagues of Nafziger\u2019s ranging from David McCormick<\/a>, founder of the Charlottesville-based baroque ensemble Three Notch\u2019d Road and newly named executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival<\/a>, to Trent Wagler \u1fbd02, who fronts Steel Wheels, the nationally celebrated roots band.<\/p>\n Others include:<\/p>\n \u201cGoing through old programs while clearing out my office,\u201d reflected Nafziger, \u201cso many memories came flooding back to me \u2013 the people, the repertoire, the communities for whom and with whom we sang.\u201d<\/p>\n Hence, the appellation \u201cCommunities of Song,\u201d testifying to Nafziger\u2019s belief that \u201cit takes a village, a community, for music to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n The concert begins with a processional piece borrowed from an African-American church in Washington, D.C. It will be followed by a Bach cantata, with strings and oboes.<\/p>\n
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