"Resonance' Showcases Alma at Detroit Opera House
Four Alma College performance groups take the stage at the historic Detroit Opera House for a concert that will surely “resonate” to a varied audience of prospective students, alumni and those who appreciate the arts.
“Resonance: A Celebration of the Performing Arts” will feature the Alma College Choir, Percussion Ensemble, Pipe Band and Highland Dancers in concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 4 in the Detroit Opera House. More than 200 high school performers will join them on stage for a dramatic musical finale.
The concert represents the first time that any Alma College ensemble has performed in the elegant Detroit Opera House.
“Our students recognize that this concert in the magnificent Detroit Opera House will be something special,” says Will Nichols, Secrest Professor of Music and director of choirs. “We want to live up to the venue. This is like a bowl game for us.”
Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster.com, the Detroit Opera House and the Alma College “Resonance” Website. High school students ordering through Alma College may request one free ticket to the performance
Featuring more than 100 Alma College singers, instrumentalists and dancers, the performance is designed to serve a trio of functions. It’s a recruitment event, alumni party and College visibility initiative all wrapped together.
“The Alma Choir has always been a microcosm of the College — choir members are also scholars and athletes, and they are part of all the things that make Alma College such an exciting place,” says Nichols.
Alma’s 30-member Percussion Ensemble has performed around the United States, including at the Detroit International Jazz Festival and on the main stage at Centrum’s Jazz Port Township Festival in Washington.
“Out students see this as another fantastic opportunity to perform in an excellent venue for an audience keen on hearing good music,” says Dave Zerbe, director of the percussion ensemble. “The audience can expect an exciting variety of music.”
Joining the Choir and Percussion Ensemble will be Alma College’s Highland arts ensembles — the Pipe Band and Kiltie Dancers.
“Resonance provides the Pipe Band with the opportunity to do what we enjoy most — playing traditional and contemporary Scottish music,” says Drew Duncan, director of the Pipe Band. “We hope that the audience has as much fun listening to our performance as we will have preparing for and participating in the performance.”
The Alma Choir will be touring metro Detroit high schools in the week leading up to the March 4 concert.
Preparation for the event began last fall when the performing arts faculty joined representatives from Admissions, Alumni, Advancement, the Chapel, Marketing and Communications, and the President’s Office in bi-weekly meetings to plan all aspects of the event, including ticketing, invitations, travel logistics, concert set-up, and promotion. The planning group took a day trip to Detroit last fall to meet with Opera House officials and tour the venue.
“The participants in the Resonance task force are enthusiastically sharing their ideas and expertise in ways that will allow us to present a strong and positive impression of the College to that community,” says Ann Hall, special assistant to the president. “Through this venture, we are able to bring constituencies together — faculty, staff, current students, prospective students and alumni — to show the life-long relationships that can be built at Alma.”
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Posted: Mon, February 27th, 2012 at 5:02PM
