FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 3, 2009

Contact: K.E. Schwab  

724.738.2199

 karl.schwab@sru.edu

Pittsburgh Symphony All-Star Chorus features SRU singers

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Five Slippery Rock University students have been selected to join the Pittsburgh Symphony All-Star College Chorus when the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra, conducted by Marvin Hamlisch, presents “Marvin and the Music of Jerome Kern” in Heinz Hall. 

            SRU students who will join the chorus are Angela Fenk, a music education major from Pittsburgh; Katy Capestrani, a music therapy major from Butler; Zach Thompson, a music education major from Boswell; Brad Herman, an undeclared major from Valencia; and Kirsten Wilson, a music major from Philadelphia. The all-star chorus is directed by Robert Page.

            The SRU Alumni Association will sponsor a trip to the Feb. 15 concert.

            Additional performances are at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12 and 8 p.m. Feb. 13-14.

            The SRU Alumni Association-sponsored excursion includes roundtrip bus transportation, the concert and an after-performance reception in the Mozart Room. The bus boards at 12:45 p.m. at the Russell Wright Alumni House and Conference Center. Cost for dress circle seating is $95; $66 for family circle seating. SRU student tickets, subsidized by the College of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts, are $37 for family circle seating; $21 for gallery seating.

            Tickets will be distributed on the bus. Credit card orders may be placed by calling the alumni house at 724.738.2018 or 1.800.438.7625. 

            Kern, who wrote more than 700 songs, including his well-known musical “Show Boat” which will be featured along with “Yesterdays,” “All the Things You Are” and “Can’t Help Singing,” when the pops orchestra and All-Star Chorus combine.

            The concert will also feature vocalists Beth Southard, Clare Gormley, J. Mark McVey and Jeff Howell.

Hamlisch, who was presented an honorary doctorate by Slippery Rock University, is an internationally known composer and conductor who wrote the music for the Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Chorus Line” and has composed 40 motion picture scores. As a composer, he has won three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, one Tony and three Golden Globes.

Among the Broadway shows Hamlisch has composed are “They’re Playing Our Song,” “The Goodbye Girl,” “Sweet Smell of Success” and “Imaginary Friends.” His motion picture scores include the Oscar-winning “They Way We Were” and his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for “The Sting.” He arranged Barbra Streisand’s 1994 concert tour as well as the television special “Barbra Streisand: The Concert” – for which he received two Emmys. 

He is a graduate of both Juilliard and Queens College.

Slippery Rock University is Pennsylvania’s premier public residential university. Slippery Rock University provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that intentionally combines academic instruction with enhanced educational and learning opportunities that make a positive difference in their lives.