photo of a few choir members from April 2023

AU Choir touring across Ohio, following commencement ceremony

Published on May 04, 2023
Music

ASHLAND, Ohio – The Ashland University Choir and AU Chamber Singers will go on a brief tour, following this weekend’s commencement ceremony, and perform a series of concerts May 8-10. This year’s touring ensemble will sing a variety of selections previously performed throughout its 2022-23 concert season.

The AU Choir is conducted by Rowland Blackley, director of choral activities and professor of music at AU, and accompanied by pianist Deborah Logan. The tour will consist of 7 p.m. concerts at the following churches:

  • Holy Cross Lutheran Church (4260 Rocky River Dr., Cleveland) on May 8
  • Smoky Row Brethren Church (7260 Smoky Row Rd., Columbus) on May 9
  • New Lebanon Brethren Church (32 S. Church St., New Lebanon) on May 10

The program features pieces by Morten Lauridsen, James Erb and William Dawson, as well as those of Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Rutter and Sergei Rachmaninov. The AU Chamber Singers will contribute madrigals and more popular charts from the 20th century, and a highlight of the concert will be Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata 4, “Christ lag in Todes Banden,” which honors  the memory of Timothy Guenther, the university’s longtime organist and adjunct music instructor who passed away in February.

The AU Choir consists of students representing a number of academic majors and performs programs of unaccompanied literature from all eras, as well as major works with orchestra. Each year, the members are selected by private audition and rehearse three days a week.

In addition to the choir, AU offers several other singing opportunities, such as the Chamber Singers, the Ashland Area Chorus, the Women’s Chorus and an opera workshop.

Ashland University is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.