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MC Homecoming Choir to perform Oct. 23

Oct. 13, 2021

The Maryville College Homecoming Choir will present its annual concert on Sat., Oct. 23, as part of the College’s 2021 Homecoming festivities.

The choir, which features current and former MC choir members, will perform from 10:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. in the Clayton Center for the Arts’ Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre.

The concert is free and open to the public, but tickets are required for admission. Please note that tickets are limited and available on a first come, first-served basis. For tickets, which can be emailed and presented on a mobile device for entry to the venue, please contact the Clayton Center Box Office at 865-981-8590 or visit claytonartscenter.com. Masks are required in all indoor campus spaces.

The Homecoming Choir concert, which is one of the most popular events annually at Homecoming, will be directed by guest director Lynn Duke Urda ’69. Urda is the founder, conductor and music director of the Gwinnett Young Singers, a nationally acclaimed community chorus for children and youth. Mindy Reagan ’19, an elementary music educator for Blount County Schools, is serving as Homecoming Choir coordinator.

“Our Homecoming Choir is a bit unique, as it is a partnership among students, alumni, faculty and staff,” said Stacey Wilner, director of choral activities at Maryville College. “We work together to build a community and strengthen the musical heritage and culture of the College. We are fortunate to have such committed and talented alumni who continue to give back to the College yearly and look forward to this opportunity to reconnect. The current MC students so enjoy getting to meet these former choir members and hear stories about their professional journey in life.”

The program for the Homecoming Choir concert includes performances of “Two Wings,” arranged by Harter Harter; “The Best of Rooms” by Randall Thompson; “Cry Out and Shout” by Knut Nystedt; “We Are Not Alone” by Pepper Choplin; and “Benediction and Amen” by Peter Lutkin.

Student ensembles also will perform. The Maryville College Concert Choir, directed by Wilner, will perform “The Cloths of Heaven” by Z. Randall Stroope and “Rock-a My Soul” by Stacey Gibbs. Off Kilter, directed by Wilner, will perform “Dies Irae” from Requiem by John Michael Trotta and “Parting Glass,” arranged by Sarah Quartel. The Lassies, directed by Wilner with choral assistant Hannah White Strong ’18, will perform “Skye Boat Song,” arranged by Paul Lankford. The Lads, directed by Alan Eleazer, will perform “Hard Times,” arranged by Nick Johnson.

On Fri., Oct. 22 at 2 p.m., the public is invited to attend a roundtable discussion with guest director Lynn Duke Urda ’69 and alumni in the Clayton Center for the Arts’ Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall.

More information about this year’s Homecoming Choir concert can be found on the MC website at maryvillecollege.edu/alumni/events/homecoming/choir.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”