University Singers Embark on 35th Annual Spring Tour

More than 70 members of the University of Maine University Singers will embark on their 35th annual weeklong spring tour throughout New England March 11.

Tour stops include daytime school assemblies and public evening concerts. The first stop will be the Brewer Community School at 9 a.m., March 11, and continues with concerts in Falmouth, Windham, Scarborough and Freeport, then Massachusetts, Connecticut and a final performance in Kinnelon, N.J. The singers will take a cultural tour of New York City before heading back to UMaine.

The University Singers is an advanced concert choir with members from all academic disciplines. The ensemble tours the Northeast each spring and schedules a European tour every four years. At home, the group regularly performs with the university’s Oratorio Society and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra.

The annual tours have brought “great artistry and joy to so many people over the years and that is an inspiration to me,” says University Singers conductor Dennis Cox, who has directed the singers for 35 years.

Many of the stops are at schools with music programs run by UMaine alumni who studied under Cox, including Jeremy Milton, director choral music at Old Saybrook High School in Connecticut.

“I know from experience that Dr. Cox puts together an excellent program that has something in it for everyone and that will appeal to a variety of community members and students,” Milton says. “It will give my students an opportunity to experience what’s going on musically outside of what they see every day. And of course, I look forward to connecting with my alma mater.”

The tour program includes a wide variety of popular selections, from hits like Georgia on My Mind to difficult classical pieces like the Holocaust Cantata. The concerts also include an all-time favorite, the Maine Stein Song.

A full tour schedule is on the UMaine School of Performing Arts website.

Contacts: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745/207.949.4149; Monique Hashey, 207.581.4721