Alumni Choir, early director return for 50th Anniversary Choral Concert

The University of Wisconsin Green Bay Music program will mark Alumni Days and the school’s golden anniversary with a celebratory choral concert at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday (Oct. 17) at the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts.

Prof. Trinidad Chavez, then UW-Green Bay’s director of choral activities, rehearses with a 1970s-era student ensemble on campus.

Current student performers — members of the full Concert Choir and the elite UW-Green Bay Chorale — will share the program with the 50th Anniversary Alumni Choir made up of returning performers representing graduating classes from the 1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s. The 70-voice reunion choir will perform under the direction of Prof. Emeritus Trinidad Chavez, who guided the growth of the University’s vocal music program from 1970 through his retirement in 1997.

The alumni portion of the program closes the evening. The alumni — some of whom have performed professionally and many who went on to local music education careers or participation in church or community choral groups — will begin with Mozart’s motet “Ave Verum Corpus,” a gentle and serene work written just months before the composer’s death in 1791. Their second selection features another familiar piece by a renowned composer, the hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth” by the widely performed 20th century English composer John Rutter. The final selection will bring current students — the 37 members of the select UW-Green Bay Chorale — back on stage to join the alumni in performing “Dona Nobis Pacem,” the grand closing movement of Bach’s masterful Mass in B-minor. Current student Ryan Dummer will accompany the 50th Anniversary Alumni Choir on piano.

The concert begins with the Concert Choir under the direction of Prof. Sarah Meredith, performing a varied program — spanning musical theatre to opera — that will also feature an alumni dimension. Guest mezzo-soprano Laurie Seely Vassalli, who attended UW-Green Bay in the 1990s and today performs professionally with Lyric Opera of Chicago, will be soloist on the aria “Dido’s Lament” from the 17th century work Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell. The 44-member Concert Choir will also perform choral selections from “State Fair” by Rodgers and Hammerstein, the “Neighbors’ Chorus” from the 19th century Jacques Offenback comic opera La jolie Parfumeuse, and Verdi’s “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from Nabucco. The women of the Concert Choir will be featured on Gilbert Becaud’s “Let It Be Me,” and the men will be featured in “The Mansions of the Lord” by contemporary composer Nick Glennie-Smith. Pianist Mary Slavek is the accompanist.

Following intermission, the UW-Green Bay Chorale under the direction of Prof. Randall Meder will be backed by a faculty and alumni instrumental ensemble — string, brass and percussion — in the performance of all six movements of Mozart’s sacred masterwork Vesperae solennes de confessore. Featured vocalists are Prof. Courtney Sherman, who will perform the famous soprano solos, along with students Lauren Paul, alto; Lane Ludtke, tenor, and Nicholas Schommer, bass. The guest instrumentalists are Jill Sousek and Janet Bond Sutter, violin; Michael Dewhirst, cello, Maximillian Simmons, bass, Prof. Adam Gaines and James Block, trumpet; Andrew Zipperer, Prof. Kevin Collins and Bill Burroughs, trombone; Jamie Rodgers, timpani; and Ray Thompson, organ.

Members of the Chorale, Concert Choir and 50th Anniversary Alumni Choir are listed below.

Tickets to Saturday’s concert, general admission, are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors. (Student tickets are free.) Tickets may be purchased in advance through the University Ticketing and Information Center (920.465.2400) or online, or obtained at the Weidner Center Box Office before the performance.

UW-Green Bay Alumni Choir:
1970s — Susan McAllister 1972, Edward Selinsky 1972, Craig Konowalski 1974, Kate Meeuwsen 1976, Crystal Hogan 1979;
1980s — Paula Tolksdorf 1983, Mike Cisler 1984,
Cindy Ludtke 1984,
 Mark Schmandt 1985, Steve Dotz 1986, 
Scott Willems 1988,
 Janet Holdt 1989, Timothy Kozlovsky 1989, Mark Peot 1989;
1990s — Cheryl Coisman 1990,
Angela Bertram Kampmann 1990, Karen Runnoe Oftedahl 1990, Deb Seidl 1990,
 Tina Thielen-Gaffey 1990, 
Duane ,Woelfel 1990, 
Judy Woelfel 1990, 
Kevin Flogel 1992,
 Sherry Savee Zimbal 1993,
 Tim Bahn 1994,
 Roger Drumm 1994,
 Phillip Frazier 1994,
 Jill Huguet 1994,
 Michelle Kuchta 1994, 
Michelle LaPlante 1995, 
Jennifer Steeber 1995,
 Debbie Drumm 1996, 
Karla Keegan 1996, Laurie Seely Vassalli 1996, Kristin Robertson Gehm 1997, Jeffrey Burkel 1998,
 Brett Dimmer 1998, Amy Baker 1999, Christy Flynn 1999, Melissa Platowski 1999, Tina Sauerhammer 1999;
2000s — Mary Hart Ott 2000,
 Amanda Moschea Reichhold 2000, Jessica Galarneau 2003,
 David Robertson 2003,
 Tiffany Wier 2003,
 Timi Wojcik 2003,
 Abbe Somerhalder 2004,
 Darla Czarapata VanCamp 2004, Terry Brennan 2006, 
Jemma Lund 2007,
 Shiyanke Goonetilleke 2008, Ashley Sprangers 2008,
 Shelley DeGrave 2009, 
Kolia Olson 2009,
 Matthew Walton 2009,
 Andrea Fisher Storzer 2010,
 Erin LeGrave 2011,
 Lacy Siegmund 2011,
 Kendra Wilke 20012,
 Krista Jaeger 2013, 
Alex Stensaas 2013,
 Rancel Tom 2013, 
Angie Danowski 2014,
 Nicole Duhaime 2014,
 Charles Reimer 2014,
 Farin Ludtke 2015.

UW-Green Bay Concert Choir: Soprano I — Acacia Angelo, Emily Blaha, Abigail Borchardt, Breanna Butterfield, Guinevere Casper, Jessica Hannon, Laura Hoffman, Jacilyn Rubio, Alleia Tyson, Mallory Uttech, Sarah Vestweber, Anna Xiong; Soprano II — Natasha Ales, 
Alivia Dobbratz, Kaitlyn Kuchenbecker, Hailey Maurer, McKenzie Reimann, Katrina Strnad, Charlotte Wu; Alto I — Taylor Casperson, Macie Doyle, Courtney Hamilton, Olivia Helander, Brittany Int-Hout, Rebecca Kornowski, Jordan Parbs, Mallory Uttech; Alto II — Nicole Baeb,
 Taylor Gulbrand, Halle Johnson, Anastasia Lundquist, Madisen Lutz,
 Emily Pouli,
 Fantasia Robinson, Samantha Slater, Madeline Tiedt; Tenor — Alex Ashbeck, Aaron Hepp, Lane Ludtke, Josh Riehn; Baritone/Bass — Erik Larson,
 Misael Moya, Jordan Sisel, Michael Wallenfang.

UW-Green Bay Chorale: Soprano — Acacia Angelo, Ashley Bucholtz, Lindsey Buss, Lisa Ford, Anna Hoesley,
 Claire Kitzerow, Brittney Koerner, Sabrena Koren, Kaitlyn Kuchenbecker, Christa Lewin, Sydney St.Clair, Mallory Uttech, Madelyn Winter; Alto — Alysha Brooks, Laura Cortright, Maria Fannin, Samantha Gulino, Ashley Gutting, Kelsie Holtzheimer, Xinyi Liu, Lauren Paul,
 Rissel Peguero, Heather Roberts, Beth Waldeck, Brittany Welch, Lorelei Zimmerman; Tenor— Aaron Frye, 
Logan Gruszynski, Lane Ludtke, Craig Sampo, Jordan Sisel; Bass — Ryan Dummer, Gatlin Grimm, Bryan Konicek, Nicholas Schommer, Thomas Sielaff, Kevin Wellens.