For Immediate Release
Contact: Lea Ann Erickson
Assistant Vice President of Public Relations and Marketing
Phone: 508-929-8018
October 28, 2009
(Worcester, Mass.) -- The Worcester State College Chorale will celebrate its Twenty-Year Reunion with a free Concert, Saturday, November 7, at 4:00 pm in the Exhibit area of the Student Center. Over 100 assembled voices from the past 20 years will join in song.
One of the most highly regarded music ensembles in Central Massachusetts, the Chorale has performed internationally and locally. The small a cappella group, performs at many alumni events and works with theater faculty to perform a musical every two or three years and tour internationally every other year, including a performance for Pope John Paul II in 1997.
According to Director Christie Nigro, Ph.D., who is also a Visual and Performing Arts Professor, “These trips really change our students in a number of ways. They learn that music is a universal mode of expression that overcomes differences of language. They also learn something about the way the rest of the world lives, which is usually a bit different than the way they live. It is really an awakening to most of them.”
The Chorale with the late Pope John Paul II in 1993, during the Chorale's concert tour of Italy. The Chorale sang in St. Peter's Square to an audience of about 100,000.
She noted that students begin preparing for the biannual tour two years in advance, choosing a destination and then fundraising in a multitude of ways. “We depend on these fundraisers to accomplish our goal,” Nigro said. “We do everything from Singing Valentines to car washes and candy sales, as well as concerts and performances. We also have Friends of Chorale, a support group of people who love the Chorale and its efforts.”
As a young classical musician, Nigro, did not foresee that she would become deeply involved with choral music. Yet since joining the WSC faculty in 1989, she has more than tripled the size of the Chorus, established an internationally respected Chorale, and conducted a performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana--with more than 300 voices and a full professional orchestra--in Mechanics Hall.
The concert is free and open to the public.
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