HILLSBORO, Kan. – Tabor College presents two concert opportunities open to the public. Students, friends and family are invited to the Symphonic Band Concert and Opera Showcase. The Symphonic Band Concert will be held Nov. 13 at 4:00 p.m. at the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church in Hillsboro, Kan. Tabor’s Opera Showcase is planned for Nov. 15 at 7:00 p.m. on campus at the Wohlgemuth Music Education Center lobby.
The opening concert themed “Flourish!” will be a fun event featuring the Woodwind Trio, Brass Ensemble and Jazz Combo alongside the Symphonic Band. Elisha Cairns, a senior from Salina, Kan., will be the featured soloist on clarinet. The event promises a wide variety of music for everyone including jazz, opera, marches and overtures.
The Symphonic Band Concert is under new direction this year. Shawn Knopp, assistant professor of music and director of instrumental music, comes to Tabor after teaching for 11 years at Smoky Valley Public Schools.
“We have had a fast and exciting start to the school year and we are excited to present our first concert of the academic year,” Knopp said. “Our students have been working on standards in the symphonic band repertoire, and I am certain, the audience will enjoy hearing music from Ralph Vaughan Williams, Claude T. Smith and Frank Ticheli, to name a few.”
Similarly, Tabor’s Opera Showcase will be a lighthearted evening of music that the audience will likely recognize and enjoy. Titled “An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan,” the concert features scenes from the operas “Patience,” “Trial by Jury” and “The Yeoman of the Guard.” The selections, all comedic, range from a man foolishly reciting poetry to a woman he’s fallen in love with to a nonsensical trial for a man who broke up with a woman after a few dates.
“We’ve chosen pieces and scenes that share the more humorous side of opera,” said Jen Stephenson, assistant professor of music and director of vocal studies. “We’re thrilled to have a concert in only the second year of the program. This is a big accomplishment for our students and they deserve a lot of credit for the success of the event.”
Stephenson is in her second year of teaching at Tabor and joined the performing arts faculty from the University of Alabama. In her role she also oversees the women’s choir Concerto Bella Voce.