Campus choirs represent Meramec over holiday breakSubmitted Photo
On Saturday, December 7, the Meramec Chamber Singers, conducted by Dr. Jerry Myers, Associate Professor of Music, performed in the 20th-Anniversary of the “Holiday Festival of Choirs” in St. Paul Catholic Church in Macomb, Illinois. The concert, led by Dr. James Stegall, Professor of Music at Western Illinois University, included ten choirs and over 250 singers. In addition to the Western Illinois University choirs, successful alumni of the WIU School of Music were invited to bring their choral ensembles.
According to Dr. Myers, “To receive an invitation from my mentor to be a part of the 20th-Anniversary of the “Holiday Festival of Choirs” was an honor that left me both excited and apprehensive. Performing for Dr. Stegall — and alongside the nationally-renown WIU University Singers — is humbling, at best. As an ensemble and as individuals, however, the Meramec Chamber Singers made me exceptionally proud.” Of the Meramec Chamber Singers’ performance, Dr. Stegall said that they sang “splendidly and without flaw”. Overall, Dr. Myers said that his singers gave “a polished, vibrant and musical performance”.
Dr. Myers described the moment of hearing the 250 singers, strings and piano perform while surrounding the audience as, “impossible to hold back the emotion”. As for the Chamber Singers’ invitation to participate in this event, he compared it to athletics. “To perform after a nationally-renown university choral ensemble is like inviting a community college athletic team to compete against a university team. Of course, we would expect the community college team to play their best, but they would likely be outmatched. Our students not only ‘played’ their best, but sang like they were on equal footing with one of the best university-level choral ensembles! I received so many compliments from colleagues and the general public about how astounded they were with our students’ tone and musicality.”
The Chamber Singers will perform again in the Meramec Choral Festival with guest artist Derric Johnson at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 21, 2014 in the Meramec Theater. For more information on Music at Meramec or a list of upcoming concerts, email MeramecMusic@stlcc.edu or visit http://www.stlcc.edu/MeramecMusic.
