University Singers Embark on Italy, Sicily Concert Tour
Contact: Dennis Cox, 581-1245 or 478-5684; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — More than 50 members of UMaine’s University Singers and a half dozen accompanying musicians are packing for a 10-day concert tour in Italy and Sicily May 16-26.
The students and accompanists have an itinerary of five concerts with time in between for sight-seeing, says music professor Dennis Cox, University Singers director.
The University Singers is a select concert choir whose members come from all academic disciplines at UMaine. About half are from areas outside of music.
Each year, the Singers undertake a week-long concert tour, usually in the Northeastern United States. Every fourth year, they perform in Europe.
“They can’t wait. The students are very, very excited,” says Cox. “For some, they have been to Europe before but I would say for many of them, it will be a different experience.”
Cox says Europe is an excellent venue for a concert tour because most of the students have not been to Europe and much of the music they perform is European. An international concert tour enhances the students’ education, he adds.
“Anybody who is an educated person should be familiar with a culture outside our own,” he says, “and Europe is a compact area, so you can experience a lot of it without driving very far.”
The students raised money for the trip on their own, with assistance from the UMaine Foundation, Friends of University Singers and other sources, including friends and family members.
The ensemble had raised what was expected to be enough for the tour earlier in the semester and then discovered costs had risen substantially because of the increased price of jet fuel. “We were able to put together $28,000 extra in 3 weeks,” he says.
The group leaves Wednesday, May 14, and plan stops in Siracusa, Agrigento and Palermo in Sicily and Sorrento and Rome in Italy.
In addition to the student singers and Cox, others from UMaine including flutist Liz Downing from the Office of Admissions, pianist Laura Artesani, assistant professor of music, and several friends, including Cox’s brother Allan, who teaches trumpet at Vanderbilt University, and his wife Hildegarde, an organist.
During the tour, the group will perform a joint concert with the Paolo Altieri Choir in Chiesa, Siracusa, and also will debut a composition by UMaine music professor Beth Wiemann titled “On Time.”
Among the composers whose work they will sing are Brahms, Handel, Verdi and Rossini.