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BPC invites public to attend fall concerts, Christmas celebration

Dr. Mark Bowdidge, Brewton-Parker College’s assistant professor of music, directs the annual “Festival of Lessons and Carols” in Saliba Chapel. (BPC archives/2005)

By Kelley M. Arnold

Director of News and Public Information

MOUNT VERNON—Brewton-Parker College’s Division of Music is offering a full calendar of concerts and recitals between now and Christmas on the Mount Vernon campus. Brewton-Parker hopes the community will make plans to attend the following free events, featuring students and community members.

The Fall Choir Concert will be held Thursday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. in Saliba Chapel. The concert will feature repertoire from the 16th century to the present, including works by Gibbons, Mozart, Vaughan Williams and contemporary works by Paul Manz, André Thomas, Randall Thompson and Morten Lauridsen. Accompanists will be students Brandon Pafford and Jared Register. Student soloists are tenor Doug Pittman, soprano Cindy Rollins, alto Katrina Walker, tenor Dustin Simmons and bass Dallas Wilke.

The Brewton-Parker Community Wind Ensemble concert will be held Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Gilder Recital Hall. The ensemble is comprised of BPC faculty, staff and students along with community members who play instruments. Also, a student recital, featuring 15 individual student performances, will be held Friday, Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. in Gilder Recital Hall.

The college’s annual Christmas concerts will be held the first week in December.

The Festival of Lessons and Carols, a traditional service of music and spoken word, will be held Sunday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. in Saliba Chapel. The service features nine scripture readings, or lessons, beginning with the fall of man in the Garden of Eden and leading to the Incarnation of Christ. Each reading is accompanied by a subsequent musical selection from one of the ensembles from the college’s Division of Music. This year’s ensembles are the Baron Ringers, Baron Singers, Concert Choir and Wind Ensemble.

“This (type of service) originated in the chapel of King’s College in Cambridge in the early part of the 20th century,” said Dr. Mark Bowdidge, assistant professor of music. “This is a formal academic and spiritual event with readers, called lectors, representing various sectors of the college and community.”

The Baron Singers Christmas Celebration will be held Friday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Saliba Chapel.

-BPC-