Music Department and Music Center Concerts

Fri, Sep 16th @ 7:30 pm — Rieth Recital Hall

Members of the Goshen College music department faculty will present a joint recital in Rieth Recital Hall. The program will feature a mix of GC faculty and adjunct music instructors, and will feature a varied program of works and composers.

Sat, Oct 08th @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

Goshen College’s annual Homecoming Music Gala is the first opportunity to hear the “new” 2016-17 GC music ensembles! Performing will be the GC Chamber Choir and Men’s Chorus, directed by Scott Hochstetler, Women’s World Music Choir, directed by Debra Brubaker, and Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jose Rocha.

This concert is held as part of Goshen College’s 2016 Homecoming activities. 

Fri, Oct 14th @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

The Goshen College Chamber Choir will join forces with the St. Joseph Valley Camerata, both directed by Scott Hochstetler, in a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “All Night Vigil.” This Vespers service will be sung entirely in Russian and features guest basso profundo Glenn Miller.

This event will also be live streamed from Sauder Concert Hall.

Sat, Nov 05th @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

The Goshen College Combined Choirs will join with the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Scott Hochstetler for a powerful joint concert in Sauder Concert Hall.

The Choirs and Symphony will present a performance of Mennonite composer Larry Nickel’s breathtaking work Requiem for Peace.

Sat, Nov 12th @ 7:30 pm — Rieth Recital Hall

Please note: due to performer illness, this concert has been RESCHEDULED for Saturday, November 12 at 7:30 p.m. Previously purchased tickets will be honored at the new date and time.

Goshen College Professor of Music and pianist Matthew Hill will present a recital of solo piano and chamber music in Rieth Recital Hall. Featuring Solomia Soroka, violin & Jose Rocha, cello.

Matthew Hill, pianist and Goshen College professor of music, teaches piano, chamber music, music history, and pedagogy.  He is an active recitalist, chamber musician, concerto performer, and master classes teacher. His interests in monasticism, theology, and the role of silence in music, engage his teaching, scholarship, and performing with a unique perspective and depth. In the summer of 2013 he was on the piano faculty at the Schlern International Music Festival in northern Italy and also currently teaches on the piano faculty at the prestigious Interlochen Fine Arts Summer Camp.

The Blue Griffin recording label released his CD recording, Silent Colors, containing works by Liszt, Debussy, Messiaen, and several Gershwin songs arranged as virtuoso etudes by Earl Wild.  The American Record Guide commenting on this recording states: “Matthew Hill is a talented pianist who has definite ideas as to how this music should go. He has a respectable technique to accomplish his aims.”

He has a doctorate in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under Howard Karp and has also studied with the renowned Beethoven performer Claude Frank, as well as with Dr. Richard Angeletti, and Dr. Garik Pedersen.  His students have won various competitions – including a variety of concerto performances, and have also gone onto graduate study at such schools as the University of Oklahoma, Ball State University, Bowling Green University, Westminster Choir College, the University of South Florida, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Kansas City Conservatory of Music.

Sun, Nov 13th @ 7:30 pm — Rieth Recital Hall

Goshen College alumnus and soprano Stephanie Hollenberg will present a voice recital and benefit concert with pianist Christine Larson Seitz. Hollenberg will be joined with fellow GC alumni Allison Martin, soprano and Becky Snider, flute.

A concert to celebrate, raise funds for, and draw awareness to Goshen College’s new LGBTQIA Student Leader Scholarship. In lieu of recent events making Goshen College a more open and affirming faith community, we celebrate the alumni and faculty who dared to speak out, those who carried the conversation onward, and those who are now walking and talking more freely because of the courage of those who came before.

In addition to ticket charges, further donations for the LGBTQIA scholarship fund will be accepted at the door.

Sun, Feb 05th @ 4:00 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

The Goshen College Men’s Chorus will host a one-day Men’s Choir Festival in the Goshen College Music Center, culminating in an afternoon concert in Sauder Concert Hall. Invited choirs include:

• Goshen College Men’s Chorus
• Goshen High School Crimson Men’s Choir
• Northridge High School Varsity Lights
• The Open Fifths

The choirs will perform individually and as a joint mass men’s chorus. The mass chorus will be conducted by GC music professor Scott Hochstetler.

Sat, Feb 11th @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

Student winners of the 57th Annual Goshen College Concerto-Aria Competition will perform with the GC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jose Rocha.

Student performers are:

• Anne Buckwalter, clarinet – Clarinet Concerto in e minor, mvt. 1 by Weber
• Roxanne Gehring, viola – Viola Concerto in D major, mvt. 1 by Stamitz
• Sadie Gustafson-Zook, soprano & Naomi Peters, mezzo-soprano – “Pie Jesu” from Requiem by Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Julian Harnish, piano – Piano Concerto in A Minor, mvt. 1 by Schumann
• Galed Krisjayanta, tenor – “Vesti la giubba” from Pagliacci by Leoncavallo
• Morgan Short, soprano – “Elle et la! Pres de lui!” from Mignon by A. Thomas

The GCSO will also perform Symphonic Dance No. 1, Op. 64 by Edvard Grieg.

Sun, Feb 19th @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

Sun, Mar 05th @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

The Goshen College Women’s World Music Choir, directed by Debra Detwiler Brubaker, will conclude their Spring Break tour to Ontario with a Home Concert in Sauder Concert Hall. The Women’s Choir will present their tour repertoire.

Tue, Mar 07th @ 7:30 pm — Rieth Recital Hall

Goshen College music professor and violinist Solomia Soroka will present a concert with pianist Arthur Green that will highlight the music of Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovych.

Stankovych is one of the best, if not the best modern living composer of Ukraine, recognized widely in the West. His music is very evocative, expressive, and melodic, and in some moments even sentimental, which makes it pleasant to listen to. The program will present the life work of the composer, starting with his early compositions such as At The Mountain Plateau to his latest composition Fresco of Maydan, dedicated to the recent events in Ukraine.

Stankovych will be present at the recital and will talk about his compositions, giving the audience an important and interesting insight into his music.

Yevhen Stankovych is one of the central figures of contemporary Ukrainian music. A prolific composer, he has, since 1966, authored 6 symphonies, operas “When the Fern Blooms” and Rustici, 6 ballets, a large number of works in the oratorical, vocal chamber and instrumental chamber genres, as well as incidental music to 6 music theatre plays and over 100 films.

Born 19 September 1942 in the city of Svaliava Yevhen Stankovytch studied music in the music institute of Uzhgorod. Stankovych began his university studies at Lviv Conservatory and following his first year tranferred to the Kyiv Conservatory where he studied under Boris Liatoshynsky, and later under Myroslav Skoryk.

Beginning with his first compositions, Stankovych declared himself as a composer of dramatic temperament, not adverse to emotional risk. The composer’s elaborate polyphonic textures and meditative lirycysm are reminiscent of the strict instrumental style of Baroque music, while the full-bodied affects with the obvious post-romantic colouring give the music warmth and expressiveness. His music is remarkable in many respects, showing his emotional freedom, consummate technical mastery and flexibility of form.

Yevhen Stankovych is the recipient of several major awards. His Chamber Symphony № 3 was selected by UNESCO’s World Tribune as one of 10 best works of 1985. He has been recognised with several awards in Ukraine, including the country’s highest award for artistic creativity, the Taras Shevchenko State Award.

Wed, Mar 15th @ 7:30 pm — Rieth Recital Hall

Kansas-based chamber music ensemble The Sunflower Trio will present a recital on Wednesday, March 15, 2017 in Rieth Recital Hall. Their program will feature works by Mennonite composer J. Harold Moyer.

Formed in 2002, The Sunflower Trio is dedicated to the performance of music featuring voice, violin and keyboard. Consisting of Matthew Schloneger, tenor, Rebecca Schloneger, violin, and Kenneth Rodgers, piano & organ, the group excels in a variety of styles, with an eclectic repertoire ranging from Bach to Broadway. The trio is also a family affair: Matthew and Rebecca are and husband and wife, and Kenneth is Matthew’s uncle. All three serve as members of the music faculty at Hesston College, Kansas.

The trio has performed extensively throughout the United States as a part of the Kansas Arts Commission and Mid-America Arts Alliance touring rosters. The Sunflower Trio released its first CD, All Good Gifts, featuring arrangements of familiar classical and popular songs, in 2005.

Multiple Dates — Rieth Recital Hall

Student members of the Goshen College Opera Workshop will present a concert of scenes from operas and musical theater works this weekend. Performances are Friday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 18 at 4:00 p.m., in Rieth Recital Hall.

The scenes will be lightly staged and accompanied by Christine Larson Seitz, pianist.

Sat, Mar 25th @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

Goshen College’s wind ensembles will share a stage for a double-concert in Sauder Concert Hall.

Performing is the All-Campus Band, GC’s wind ensemble open to any member of the Goshen College community, directed by Jose Rocha. Also performing is Lavender Jazz, GC’s big band jazz ensemble, directed by Christopher French. Each ensemble will perform on half the concert.

Sun, Apr 02nd @ 7:30 pm — Rieth Recital Hall

Goshen College music professors Jose Rocha, cello & Matthew Hill, piano will present a concert of chamber music in Rieth Recital Hall.

The program will include the following:

• Impromptu in F minor, Op. 124, No. 4 (Franz Schubert)
• Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008 (J.S. Bach)
• Sonata in C minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 6 (Samuel Barber)
• Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 (Johannes Brahms)

Sun, Apr 09th @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

The Goshen College Symphony Orchestra will present its Spring Concert in Sauder Concert Hall. The orchestra is conducted by José Rocha.

Sat, Apr 22nd @ 7:30 pm — Sauder Concert Hall

Goshen College’s three choirs will present their most colorful and most anticipated concert of the school year: the annual EARTHTONES concert of world choral music. Performing are the Goshen College Chamber Choir and Men’s Chorus, directed by Scott Hochstetler, and the Women’s World Music Choir, directed by Debra Detwiler Brubaker. Drawing from the world’s rich diversity of singing, the choirs will perform works from a wide variety of countries and cultures, and in a variety of different languages.

Patrons are strongly encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance.