SU Women’s Choir to present festival concert featuring CNY choirs Oct. 15

The Syracuse University Women’s Choir, under the direction of Barbara M. Tagg, faculty member in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), will hold its ninth annual Women’s Choir Festival concert on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m. in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College. The concert is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the Irving Garage; patrons should mention that they are attending the event.

The concert will feature performances by local guest choirs the West Genesee High School Women’s Choir under the direction of Marcia DeMartini, and the East Syracuse-Minoa High School Women’s Choir under the direction of Shawn Hebert. The SU Women’s Choir will sing works by Roland de Lassus, Gustav Holst and Kinley Lange. The high school choirs will sing works by Katie Moran Bart, Jim Papoulis and Libby Larsen, as well as “Siyahamba,” a Zulu song.

Guest conductor of the festival is Nancy Menk, the Mary Lou and Judd Leighton Chair in Music at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., where she is professor of music and director of choral activities. She also teaches graduate conducting at the University of Notre Dame; is founder and conductor of the South Bend Chamber Singers, an ensemble of 30 select singers from the Michiana area; and is conductor of the 120-voice Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus.

Menk’s festival repertoire will include Claude Debussy’s “Nuit d’étoiles” and Elizabeth Alexander’s “If You Can Walk You Can Dance, If You Can Talk You Can Sing,” based on a Zimbabwean folk song.

The SU Women’s Choir includes undergraduate and graduate music majors from the Setnor School of Music and students from a variety of other majors and schools across campus.

For more information, contact Tagg at (315) 443-5750 or btagg@syr.edu.