FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saint Mary's College Women’s Choir to Tour in China
--Homecoming Concert to Follow at Church of Our Lady of Loretto, March 23--
Media contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary's College
(574) 284-4579
February 28, 2011 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—The Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir will spend a week touring China over spring break. The Women’s Choir is a select 33-voice ensemble that regularly commissions and performs new works for women’s voices. The choir will spend March 12-21 traveling to Nanjing, Suzhou, and Shanghai singing at different colleges and universities.
Dr. Nancy Menk, choral director and music professor, arranged the tour through connections that Saint Mary’s has with Chinese foundations and arts organizations. Those relationships have blossomed since 2008 when the College started the China Summer Program, a three-week study abroad opportunity for students. Instituting the program led to a relationship with the Nanjing Arts Institute, where the Women’s Choir will perform a concert with the Meng Girls’ Choir, directed by conductor Dixian Teng. In November, Teng visited Saint Mary’s for a week to give some lectures on music and to attend the annual High School Women’s Choir Festival.
“She was able to get a taste of what was going on here,” Menk said. “She also helped the girls work on their pronunciation for some of our Chinese pieces that we will be performing on tour.”
The Nanjing Arts Institute has planned most of the itinerary for the choir’s trip as well as helping finance the tour. Additionally, the College is paying for a portion of the girls’ expenses to lower their overall cost.
While the group tours, they will be singing with other choirs, including a community choir in Nanjing and the Shanghai Normal University Choir. In addition to the 33 members and Menk, Dr. Laurel Thomas, the chair of the Department of Music, Allison Secaur, the choir’s accompanist, Jingqui Guan ’11, and Bethany Ledyard ’13 will be making the trek as well. They will all play a role in the choir’s 14-piece program.
Thomas will sing a solo, Guan will dance to a piece by American composer Paul Carey, and Ledyard will play the trumpet for two of the pieces. Guan, in addition to performing with the choir, has also been coming in once a week to teach the girls about Chinese customs, being a native of China.
“I taught them about the food, some table manners, and some Chinese phrases,” Guan said. “I also shared with them some general Chinese culture such as being humble when receiving compliments, the bathrooms in China, and how to bargain in smaller shops.”
This is the first time the choir has traveled internationally, aside from touring in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada.
“A lot of the girls have never traveled outside of the country before,” Menk said. “Going to an Asian country is very different from visiting Europe. I am excited to see the girls’ eyes opened to a different culture.”
Menk said they will also do some sightseeing, hoping to fit in visits to the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum, Xuanwu Lake, the Nanjing Museum and some other exciting spots. However, singing is the main purpose of the trip, along with cultural exchange.
“I’m excited to have the Chinese people hear our choir and watch our students experience something so different,” Menk said.
On March 23, the choir will perform a Homecoming Concert, held in the Church of Our Lady of Loretto at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are free for SMC/ND/HCC students, $8 for Faculty, Staff, and Senior Citizens, and $10 for adults. Tickets can be purchased on the Moreau Center for the Arts website at www.MoreauCenter.com or by calling the Box Office at (574) 284-4626.
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study. Saint Mary’s College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary’s College ranks among the top 100 “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” in the U.S. News & World Report 2011 College Guide. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.