Regional campus vocalists to join with musicians for Beethoven concert

Vocalists from the Ashtabula, Stark and Salem campuses will accompany musicians from the main campus for the All-Beethoven concert Sunday.

Josef Knott, director of the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music, will conduct the performance.

“We’re promoting this concert as a total KSU performance,” Knott said. “We’re including the entire Kent State University system.”

Martina Chylikova, a guest mezzo-soprano from New York, will perform a solo.

Knott said the various groups give the performance a unique quality.

“It involves so many different forces: choir, orchestra, soloists and piano.”

Kathleen Milford, director of the Ashtabula County Choral Music Society, said 12 people from Ashtabula will sing in the concert. The society consists of students in the Kent State University Ashtabula Chorus as well as community members.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the students that are involved,” Milford said.

Gary Yost, a common pleas judge in Ashtabula County, will sing with the Ashtabula County Choral Music Society.

“When you can combine forces, sometimes everybody can enjoy a much greater kind of experience than they might be able to do individually just because of the sheer number of forces taking part in the concert,” Yost said.

He described one piece, Beethoven’s Mass in C, as a “fabulous piece for singers.”

“I think the selection of music was great for this type of program,” he said.

Knott said the performers will close the concert with Beethoven’s Fantasy in C Minor, “a real uplifting, positive piece.”

Jerry Wong, assistant professor of piano, will perform the piano portion of Fantasy in C Minor. Knott said the piano serves as “the central force” for in the piece.

The event will start at 7:30 p.m. in Cartwright Hall.

Contact performing arts reporter Bo Gemmell at [email protected].