April 12, 2005
Over 350 Singers and Musicians Joining Forces to Perform Rutter’s Mass
of the Children and Fauré’s Requiem in Richardson Auditorium on
April 29
Performance highlighting several guest soloists to benefit Del Mar College
All-State Choir Camp Scholarship Fund
Ten years after his last major work premiered for the world to hear, John Rutter’s
Mass of the Children made its debut in Carnegie Hall in February 2003.
On Friday, April 29, the British composer’s piece will debut in Corpus
Christi in Del Mar College’s Richardson Auditorium as more than 350 singers
and musicians join forces to perform Mass of the Children, which Rutter
says he wrote specifically with children in mind so they could perform side-by-side
with adults as he did as a boy soprano.
Rutter wrote Mass of the Children to consist of performances of Kyrie, Gloria,
Sanctus and Benedictus, Agnus Dei and the Finale (Dona nobis pacem) by soprano
and baritone soli, a children’s choir, an adult choir and an orchestra.
In keeping with the composer’s desires, choirs from Flour Bluff, Tuloso-Midway
and Miller High Schools–along with the Corpus Christi Youth Symphony–will
perform with the Corpus Christi Chorale, the Del Mar College Concert Choir and
special guest soloists.
The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium on the East Campus,
located at Baldwin and Ayers (campus map available at www.delmar.edu/maps/east.html).
Tickets are $10 general admission, free for children age 12 or younger and free
for DMC students and employees with a valid College I.D. Proceeds will benefit
scholarship funds for the DMC Department of Music’s All-State Choir Camp,
which will be held on the College’s East Campus July 5-8. For more information
about obtaining tickets and about the performance, call the Music Office at
361/698-1214.
The April 29 performance also includes a piece by the late French composer Gabriel
Fauré (1845-1924). His work called Requiem, which members of the
DMC Concert Choir and Corpus Christi Chorale will perform in Carnegie Hall in
June, remains a standard element in choral repertoire with its setting of peaceful
funeral rites rather than the full traditional Requiem Mass written by
such predecessors as Mozart, Verdi and Brahms. Composition of requiems, which
literally means “mass for the departed,” can be traced back to the
early sixteenth century and began as chants in a liturgical setting instead
of choral pieces.
The performance also includes three guest soloists. Baritone Randall Morrow
and soprano Lauren Zoghby are both pursuing master of music degrees in vocal
performance from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. Soprano
Nancy Lanmon Cooke, a Corpus Christi native, is a graduate of Hardin Simmons
University and continued her music studies as a Rotary International Foundation
Scholar at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England.
Morrow has performed on the Moores Opera Center stage in productions of Mozart’s
La Finta Giardiniera and Impresario, Prokofiev’s Love
for the Oranges, and J.S. Bach’s secular cantata, The Contest Between
Phoebus and Pan. He also sings with the Houston Chamber Choir, the Santa
Fe Desert Chorale and serves as director of music at St. Timothy’s United
Methodist Church. A native of Oklahoma, Morrow has a bachelor’s degree
in music education from the University of Oklahoma and extensive teaching experience
in public schools and private voice studio.
Zoghby, a native of Fairhope, Alabama, graduated magna cum laude from the University
of South Alabama. A former Miss University of South Alabama, she has received
numerous scholarships and academic awards. Zoghby made her professional singing
debut with the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Series and has performed with the
Mobile Symphony, Musica Sacra, the Mobile Opera Company and the Pensacola Choral
Society. A gifted actress, she has also starred in numerous and challenging
operatic roles. Her future engagements include leading roles with the Mobile
Opera Company, the University of Houston’s Opera Theater as well as concerts
across the southeastern United States.
Lanmon Cooke began her professional career in England touring with the D’Oyly
Carte Opera and Welsh National Opera companies as well as performed recitals
and concerts across the United States, the United Kingdom and The Republic of
Ireland. After recording her first solo album, Songs of Inspiration,
Lanmon Cooke returned to Texas and her first calling–singing sacred music.
She has sung in churches across the United States, including appearances at
the Crystal Cathedral in California. Making her home in Corpus Christi once
again, she teaches junior high choir for the Sinton Independent School District
and is active in the music ministry of First Baptist Church Corpus Christi.
Her most recent performances include serving as soprano soloist in Messiah for
the Corpus Christi Chorale and Kingsville Community Choir as well as singing
as guest artist in A Touch of Frost with the Corpus Christi Symphony.
Choral director Ronnie Sanders joined the Del Mar College Music faculty in August
2004. His responsibilities also include directing the Corpus Christi Chorale,
the adult community choir sponsored by DMC. Among his credits prior to joining
the College, Sanders directed the Brenham Chorale and the Blinn College Choral
Union in Brenham. He also served as the associate conductor of the San Antonio
Choral Society for three years as well as conducted in London and Heidelberg.
More recently, Sanders conducted Houston’s Symphony North Orchestra and
served as a featured conductor at the Texas Choral Director’s Association
convention. In June, he heads to New York City’s Carnegie Hall, along with
members of the DMC Concert Choir and Corpus Christi Chorale, to perform as part
of MidAmerica Productions’ Carnegie Hall concert series.
-DMC-mce