Tabor College Music

HILLSBORO, Kan. — The Tabor College Oratorio Chorus and Community Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Brad Vogel, Professor of Choral Music, will present Handel’s Messiah at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6., at the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church, 300 Prairie Point, in Hillsboro.

Solos will be sung by Tabor seniors Justin Moore, Emily Olson and Kayla Vix; juniors Darren Enns and Aaron Stepanek; and sophomore David Vogel.  Lisa Loewen Kroeker, a 2003 graduate of Tabor, also will perform as a soloist.

First performed in Dublin, Ireland, on April 13, 1742, Messiah is Handel’s most famous composition and is among the most popular works in Western choral literature. Although the work was conceived and first performed for Easter, it has become traditional to perform the oratorio during Advent, the preparatory period of the Christmas season.

“Much of the Hillsboro community sees Messiah as the beginning of the Christmas season,” said Vogel. “The college is happy to bring this music to the community.”

Dr. Sheila Litke, Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy, will play the harpsichord, and Stephen Vincent, Adjunct Instructor of Organ, will have the privilege of playing Messiah’s familiar melodies on the church’s newly-restored pipe organ.

The vintage Kimball organ, restored by master organ builder Burton Tidwell of Marion, Kan., was donated to the church by Calvary United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kan. The organ will be heard for the first time in public at this performance of Messiah.

“Burton Tidwell is an extremely busy man, building and restoring large pipe organs from California to Texas to Kentucky to Florida and the Bronx,” Vogel said. “Pipes for this organ have come not only from the Wichita organ but from rebuilding projects in the Bronx and beyond. Some of the pipes are about a hundred years old.”

An offering will be taken following the performance of Messiah to assist with costs of the production. For more information, call the Tabor College Music Department at (620) 947-3121.

HILLSBORO, Kan. — Everyone is invited to attend the community-wide Thanksgiving Service and Fall Festival Concert, “With Praise and Thanksgiving”, beginning at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, at the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church, 300 Prairie Point, in Hillsboro, Kan.

The event is co-sponsored by Tabor College and the Hillsboro Area Ministerial Association and will feature concert performances by a variety of groups and soloists from the Tabor Music Department.  Admission is free with a donation of a non-perishable food item for Main Street Ministries. A freewill offering will also be taken for the work of the Ministerial Alliance.

“The goal of the ministerial association is for churches of the community to fellowship together and work together to meet the needs of people in our community,” said Rev. Gaylord Goertzen, chair of the ministerial association and pastor of the Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church.  “Tabor College is an important part of our community and we are thrilled to have a joint Fall Festival and Thanksgiving service with Tabor.”

According to Dr. Richard Cantwell, Professor of Instrumental Music and Chair of the Music Department, the Community Thanksgiving Service has traditionally been an opportunity for members of the Hillsboro community to worship and count their blessings together. Musicians from Tabor College are eager to add their musical talents and songs of praise to this year’s festivities.

“In partnering with the Ministerial Association and the Tabor College Music Department, the celebration is energized by the broader participation of the city and the college,” Cantwell said. “The food items and offering raised will continue to support the compassionate ministries of the Ministerial Association.”

Under Cantwell’s direction, the Symphonic Band will play selections from the holiday favorite Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” with accompanying visuals. The Trombone Choir will be featured in a couple of selections, and the Handbell Choir will be playing the Christmas favorite, “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

The Concert Choir, under the direction of Dr. Brad Vogel, Professor of Choral Music, will perform a number of seasonal selections with a variety of instrumentation, including student violinists Mary Goering and Julie Wiens, oboist Corina Neufeld, and vocal soloists Kayla Vix and David Vogel.

“We are looking forward to partnering with the Hillsboro Ministerial Alliance in this concert of praise and thanksgiving,” Dr. Vogel said. “The mission of Tabor College fits well with the ministry of this organization, and allows the arts at Tabor to be both featured and a source of service in the community.”

The premiere performance of “Sun, Moon and Stars,” a cantata for mixed choir, baritone solo, and orchestra written especially for the 100th Anniversary of Tabor College by composer and pianist Dr. Larry Warkentin of Fresno, Calif., was the highlight the Tabor College Centennial Spring Concert, held Sunday, May 10.

Warkentin, Professor Emeritus at Fresno Pacific University, is a distinguished alumnus of Tabor College, who has composed numerous works which have been performed by the Fresno Philharmonic, The Tulare (Calif.) Symphony, the Festival Quartet of Canada, and many choirs in North America and Europe.

The premiere of “Sun, Moon and Stars” encompassed seven sections and was performed by the Tabor College Oratorio Chorus and the Tabor College Community Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Bradley Vogel, Professor of Choral Music. The piece included a baritone solo sung by Justin Moore, a junior from Hillsboro, Kan., and concluded with the combined choir, orchestra, and audience singing Great is Thy Faithfulness.

Warkentin, who was born in 1940 in Reedley, Calif., arrived at Tabor in 1958, where the young pianist was chosen to accompany the Tabor Choir under the direction of musical giants Herbert Richert and Paul Wohlgemuth.

“The musical idea for the composition comes from my experience as accompanist for the Tabor Male Octet during the years that Richert was music director,” Warkentin said.

In addition to the new cantata, the Centennial Concert included a performance by the Tabor College Symphonic Band, conducted by Dr. Richard Cantwell, Professor of Instrumental Music and Chair of the Music Department. The Tabor College Concert Choir, conducted by Dr.Vogel, also performed.

Dr. Shiela Litke, Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy, performed Piano Concerto in E Major, Op. 59 by Moritz Moszkowski, accompanied by the Community Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Cantwell.

For more photos of the Centennial Spring Concert, Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/taborcollege/sets/72157617910586617/

The Tabor College Concert Choir, under the direction of Dr. Bradley D. Vogel, Professor of Choral Music, will perform a free public concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 5, at the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.

The choir recently returned from its Spring Tour, in which it gave 10 concerts, from March 19 to March 27, in Kansas, Colorado, and California.

The concert, entitled “The Aroma of Christ,” is based on 2 Corinthians 2:15 and explores the themes of Christ in the World, Christ in Us, and With Christ in Eternity.

“The concert repertoire is designed with the aim to magnify the greatness of God and His love,” Vogel said. “Through beauty of sound and text, we hope that listeners recognize God in us and around us.”

Musical selections will range from standard choral works of Palestrina, Rachmaninoff, Stanford and Durufle, to arrangements of hymns, spirituals, and gospel songs. The concert choir will be accompanied by piano, organ, flute, oboe, and violin.

“I do believe that art glorifies God, and that people are enriched by beauty,” Vogel added. “Our prayer is that people will feel enriched by hearing the choir.”

The Tabor College Concert Choir, directed by Dr. Bradley Vogel, will present two pre-tour concerts on Sunday, March 15. They will be at the Zoar Mennonite Brethren Church, Inman, during their morning worship service at 10:30 a.m. The choir will perform at 6:00 p.m. at the Hesston Mennonite Brethren Church, Hesston. “The Aroma of Christ” is the theme for this year’s program.

Featured this year on the annual President’s Dinner, Friday, February 20, will be the men’s ensemble Cantate! and the newly formed Flute Ensemble. The men’s ensemble, Cantate! (the Italian word for “sing”), is comprised of men selected from the Concert Choir. The ensemble will perform Joseph Martin’s Come to the Music, accompanied by Will Friesen on piano and Stephanie Wiens on piccolo, and Kurt Bestor’s well known song The Prayer of the Children. Members of the ensemble are Darren Enns, Hillsboro, KS; Ben Friesen, Guthrie, OK; Will Friesen, Meade, KS; Ben Heyen, Hillsboro, KS; Justin Moore, Hillsboro, KS; Aaron Stepanek, Hillsboro, KS; Michael Suderman, Hillsboro, KS; David Vogel, Hillsboro, KS; and Brandon Voth, Lyndon, WA. Cantate! is directed by Dr. Bradley Vogel, Professor of Choral Music.

For the dinner the flutists will be performing two compositions, Dona Nobis Pacem, a beautiful melody with the original text “Grant Us Peace” and the second work the beautiful early 19th century gospel song, Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace. Both have been arranged for the flute choir by Dr. Richard Cantwell, director of the ensemble. The flute ensembles members are from a variety of areas of study and majors across the campus. The members in the flute ensemble include: Sarah Friesen, Guthrie, OK; Katherine Gerber, Wichita, KS; Melissa Just, De Soto, KS; Alyssa King, Wichita, KS; Jenae Pauls, Inman, KS; Amy Schmidt, Corn, OK; Emily Schmidt, Bel Aire, KS; Megan Souter, Fairview, OK; Kayla Tonne, Ashland, KS; and Stephanie Wiens, Fresno, CA.