Alumni Chamber Choir tours Sweden

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Fifteen former and current students of Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts faculty member Dr. Mark Munson are on a 10-day concert tour in Sweden.

Under the direction of Munson, members of the BGSU Alumni Chamber Choir will present concerts at the Östermalms Church in Kristianstad, the Cathedral of Lund, the Swedish Church in Höör and St. Clara Church in Stockholm.

Specifically formed for the July 9-18 tour, the choir was envisioned by Munson while he was on a faculty exchange in Sweden during the 2005-06 academic year.

BGSU College of Musical Arts alumni from New York, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio and Michigan are participating in the choir, as are Elizabeth Hanson, a second-year graduate student in performance from Loveland (12081 Carrington Lane), and Daniel Weber, a senior music education major from Bowling Green (612 Aspen Lane).

Most members of the ensemble sang under Munson's direction in BGSU choral ensembles. Others are friends of the College of Musical Arts. The tour is an opportunity for Munson's former students to gain an idea of some of his experiences while living in Sweden.

The choir will perform an all-American program, ranging from well-known arrangements of traditional hymns to gospel pieces by contemporary composers Rollo Dilworth and Keith Hampton, as well as spirituals by Moses Hogan, pieces by the African-American composer Adolphus Hailstork and a beautiful canon by the early American composer William Billings.

Munson, an associate professor of music education, conducts the University Choral Society and teaches choral-related classes at the University. As part of the faculty exchange program, he taught music-profile students at Fröknegårdskolan (cq) in Kristianstad and music majors at the Music Academy of Malmö, and conducted the Motet Choir of Kristianstad.

Prior to joining the BGSU faculty in 1990, he taught choral music for eight years in public schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Munson holds degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the University of Michigan and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Choirs under his direction have toured the United States, Canada and Europe. He served as president of the Ohio Choral Directors Association from 2005-07.

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(Posted July 10, 2007)