“International Guitar Night” made its stop at Sauder Concert Hall on Saturday, March 9. It was an exciting event featuring guitarists across the globe, as artists from Brazil to Australia graced the stage with a wide variety of musical stylings and groovy instruments.  Luca Stricagnoli and his acoustic-style guitar opened the show with a vibrant cover of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” Stricagnoli says this is the fourth time he has hosted the show.  The audience was mesmerized by his inventive fingerstyle techniques that provided a new and unique sound to his music. Stricagnoli then brought his own three-necked guitar onto the stage...

By Caroline Lamb • March 14, 2024 • Arts

A hush fell over the crowd in Sauder Concert Hall, which just minutes before had been raucous and boisterous. With the tuning of the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra fading away, the door on the right side of the stage opened. As Brian Mast, the orchestra’s conductor, walked out to begin the 64th annual Concerto-Aria concert, the audience exploded with raucous applause. The orchestra began the night with a triumphant Mozart overture, the entrance to his opera “Die Zauberflöte” (The Magic Flute), giving the audience a feeling of brightness and excitement. The piece introduced the following one, “Wie, Wie, Wie?” from...

By Daniel James • February 22, 2024 • Arts

The Goshen College choirs gathered in Sauder Concert Hall to put on the Winter Choral Concert last Saturday.  The evening began with selections from the low voice choir, Vox Profundi, under the direction of Scott Hochstetler. They began with “Pacem,” which is Latin for peace, moved into an a cappella version of “Fix You” by Coldplay, and ended with a comical piece called “Lambscapes” which includes renditions of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with influences from Gregorian Chant, Handel, Schubert and Verdi. Jocsan Barahona Rosales, a junior musical theater major and soloist in “Lambscapes” and “Fix You” talked about how...

By Sarah Miller • February 15, 2024 • Arts

Sauder Concert Hall was built with an emphasis on the details. Architects put in time to create a visually beautiful space that could support large shows, sound good and provide an intimate feel.  But the details go beyond the obvious. If you look past the several seconds of reverberation, the maple stage and the soft hues of the colored LED lights, you can find another place that was designed with care: the bathrooms.  Shirley Showalter was the president of Goshen College from 1997-2004. Around the turn of the century, she hosted several donors in Colorado. The college had just finished...

By Tyson Miller • November 30, 2023 • Features

Goshen College welcomed a new music group to campus last Friday. People may have come for the Performing Arts Series concert with Flor de Toloache, but they also had the opportunity to listen to the debut of a new Mariachi group from ECoSistema. Mariachi ECo, led by Hillary Harder, is a group that has been in the works since the spring. Gilberto Pérez, Jr., dean of students, approached Harder with the idea for the group. Growing up in South Texas, Pérez was surrounded by a culture of Mariachi, and he wanted to bring that to the community here. ECoSistema felt...

By Sarah Miller • September 14, 2023 • News

This year at Sauder Concert Hall, audience members can expect to see a new face take the stage with the symphonic orchestra: Director Richard Brunson. Brunson is a teacher, conductor, hornist and Tolkien enthusiast who was hired earlier this year at Goshen College to fill the roles of symphony orchestra director and associate professor of music. Brunson has a doctoral degree in instrumental conducting from the University of Nevada (Las Vegas), and has taught and conducted for many different ensembles — most recently at the University of Wisconsin (Marshfield), where he has served as conductor for the band, orchestra and...

By Lukas Bontrager-Waite • September 8, 2023 • Arts

Mandolinist Chris Thile, a MacArthur Fellow and Grammy winner, will perform at Sauder Concert Hall on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Thile has performed at Sauder three previous times: as a part of the trio Nickel Creek, which won the International Mountain Bluegrass Award, in 2006; with the quintet The Punch Brothers, which won a Grammy Award, in 2009; and as a solo act in 2015.  This will be the first show for the Goshen College Performing Arts Series in 2023, due to the rescheduling of popular public radio host Ira Glass’ “Seven Things I’ve Learned” that was originally...

By Ana Yoder • February 2, 2023 • Arts

Sauder Concert Hall kicked off the 2022 Goshen College Performing Arts Series on Friday with a concert by brother-sister duo Watkins Family Hour and soloist Courtney Hartman. The first part of the show was run by Colorado-born artist Courtney Hartman. The folk singer and guitarist wowed the crowd with her talent, performing music she had written over the years and songs from her second solo album, “Glade.” While it was her first time on the Sauder Concert Hall stage, Hartman said that she hopes to return for more performances in the future.  After an intermission, the audience’s anticipation finally came...

By Sarah Miller • January 28, 2022 • Arts

This weekend, the 18th annual Christmas concert, “A Festival of Carols,” (FOC) will be held in-person at Goshen College in Sauder Concert Hall. The featured ensembles are the GC Choirs — Voices of the Earth, Vox Profundi and Chamber Choir — the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra (GCSO), GCSO Brass and the GC Community School of the Arts Shout for Joy children’s choir. Brian Mast, executive director of the Music Center and conductor of the GCSO, noted the significance of the return of live music: “This tradition is an important part of our offering to the community, and it just didn’t...

By Mariela Esparza • December 2, 2021 • Arts

The music department opened their season with the Homecoming Music Gala in Sauder Concert Hall on Saturday. It was the first performance with a live audience of community members since before the COVID-19 pandemic.  Performing were the Goshen College choirs (Chamber Choir, Vox Profundi and Voices of the Earth), directed by Scott Hochstetler and H. Roz Woll, the GC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Brian Mast, the Sherer Trio (Solomia Soroka, violin; Dato Machavariani, cello; Matthew Hill, piano) and a string octet which was made up of both students and faculty.  The annual Homecoming Gala was the first event held in...

By Mariela Esparza • October 7, 2021 • Arts

Performing arts series returns to Sauder concert hall The Goshen College Music Center is reintroducing the Performing Arts Series (PAS) in 2021 and 2022 to showcase nine eclectic performances. The PAS consists of new music artists and brings back fan favorites such as GC alum Carrie Newcomer and husband-and-wife duo Over the Rhine. “I love the performing art series … it is a great way to connect with the community, which is a big part of what the music center’s mission is,” says Brian Mast, executive director of the series and Goshen College’s Music Center. Many people from the community...

By Jakyra Green • September 16, 2021 • Arts

Goshen College will host its inaugural Sherer Violin and Piano Competition on Friday and Saturday at the Music Center.   The competition is named after Lon and Kathryn Sherer, former professors emeriti of music at Goshen College. Throughout their nearly 40-year legacy, the Sherers created a compassionate and supportive environment surrounding music.    The competition is aimed toward young, disciplined musicians in grades 8-12 who are not currently enrolled at a university.   “What is very exciting for us is that we could draw … young people who are very accomplished in their field, who put a lot of effort...

By Jakyra Green • September 9, 2021 • Arts

Maynard Sauder, longtime supporter of the Goshen College community, passed away on Aug. 28, in his hometown of Archbold, Ohio. Sauder and his wife, Carolyn, were instrumental in the construction of the Goshen College Music Center, donating a substantial amount of the $22 million project. Sauder Hall is named in their honor.  In memory of Sauder, Goshen College produced a tribute video in September as a personal response to Carolyn and the Sauder family. The video consists of several of Maynard Sauder’s favorite hymns sung by the Goshen College Chamber Choir in Sauder Hall.  Todd Yoder, vice president for institutional...

By Augusta Nafziger • September 17, 2020 • Arts

This past weekend, the Goshen College community once again gathered to celebrate and honor the life and legacy of the Martin Luther King Jr.. This year marked the 35th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at Goshen College. The first event to take place was the Martin Luther King Jr. Coffeehouse, which was held the evening of Sunday, Jan. 20 in Sauder Concert Hall, a change from prior years.   Dr. LaKendra Hardware, chair for the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration committee and associate director of student life for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, explained the reasoning behind the coffeehouse...

By Kadie Daye • January 24, 2019 • News

Sauder Concert Hall will again host the annual Festival of Carols. Performances will take place Dec. 7-9. The concert will include performances by the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra, the Goshen College Choirs, and Goshen College music faculty with the expectation of audience participation. This December will mark the fifteenth year of Festival of Carols. Created by former GC choir director, James Heiks, the program has several different aspects that make it to stand out among the other concerts done throughout the year. For example, Festival of Carols always includes audience participation throughout the program. Audience members sing along with college...

By Pamela Ortiz • November 28, 2018 • News