Berea College Choir Tours Appalachia

Feb 21, 2012 2 Comments by Monica Leslie

The Berea College (Ky.) Concert Choir is beginning its annual performance tour March 10 in Charleston, West Virginia. Their concert will begin at noon at the Charleston Marriott Town Center. Additional performances are on March 11 at 3 p.m. at Asbury Methodist Church in Harrisonburg, Va., on March 12 at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Charlottesville, Va., and on March 13 at 8 p.m. at Front Royal Skyline High School. The group will perform a wide repertoire of both sacred and secular choral music.

This group of diverse and talented students continues a Berea College tradition that began in 1949 when the group prepared inspirational pieces for the college’s weekly chapel service. For more than 50 years, the choir has given inspirational performances at the college and for audiences in the Appalachian region and overseas.

Berea College Concert Choir members represent the true diversity of Berea College in all its aspects—ethnic background, race, nationality, and major. The choir performs pieces in several languages chosen from a variety historical periods, including anthems, motets, masses, folk songs, spirituals, popular music, and music theatre selections. These students were competitively selected and perform several concerts each year in addition to their commitment toward their academics and work in the Berea College labor program.

The conductor of the choir is Dr. Stephen Bolster. Under his direction the Berea College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers have toured annually in the eastern United States, and have performed in several cities in China in the summer of 2007 in Italy and Switzerland in the summer of 2002, and in central and eastern Europe in 1994.

The choirs have been featured in two Christmas specials for educational television that were aired throughout the mid-South, and in a Christmas special concert that was broadcast throughout the 2010 Christmas Season on the Kentucky Educational Television network. The Concert Choir has also performed several times for the Kentucky Music Educators Association annual In-Service Conference, and has twice performed at the American Negro Spiritual Competition in Cincinnati’s famous Music Hall.

Dr. Bolster is the Mary W. McGaw Endowed Chair of Music at Berea College, where he has taught for 31 years. Professor of Music and former Chairperson of the Music Department, he conducts the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and College Community Choir and teaches voice, vocal methods, conducting, and music literature. Bolster holds music degrees from Dartmouth College (A.B. Music, 1973), the University of North Carolina (M.M. Choral Arts, 1977), and the University of Colorado (D.M.A. Literature and Performance of Choral Music, 1980) and conducted major choral organizations at each school before joining the Berea faculty in 1980. In 1989, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati.

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Monica Leslie

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Monica Leslie was the student News and Video manager for the Berea College Department of Public relations. Monica, a senior Industrial Arts and Technology major from Atlanta, had a concentration in Applied Math and certification in Eco Architecture and Design. She has worked with the Department of Public Relations since January of 2009. But Monica has also spent time working with CELTS for the student led environmental service organization, HEAL and as a full time seasonal worker on the Berea College Farm. In her spare time, Monica is very active in many campus organizations including the Berea College Mortar Board (Alpha Sigma Xi Chapter) of which she is currently the President. She is also an inducted member of the Epsilon Pi Tau (Gamma Mu chapter) honorary. In her time at Berea, Monica has also been an active leader in many other campus organizations ranging from the Berea College African Latin Percussion Ensemble, Berea College Society of Physics Students (Vice President), Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Buddhist Student Association (Vice President) and has even held a seat on the Berea College General Faculty Council’s Learning Commons committee. Monica hopes to spend more of her time focusing more of her attention toward developing her skills as a mentor through service learning and leadership development. She is also working upon building upon her close connections with her classmates. She plans upon spending the upcoming year as a One on One tutor (through Berea College CELTS), will be learning how to play the fiddle and has also become a member of the Berea College Ultimate Frisbee team. While Monica has learned a lot through her Berea College experience and is grateful for the time that she spent working with these other campus organizations, Monica admits that she is thrilled to be back at work with the Department of Public Relations. Monica, who is the sister Marcus Leslie, the former head videographer for the Berea College Department of Public relations and recent alum shared, "I haven’t quite put my finger on exactly what it is, but even without my brother here, there’s something about this place that just always feels like home.” The Department of Public Relations is located in the Visitor’s Center building in Berea, KY behind College Square and the Historic Boone Tavern.