The 10th annual Arts on the Millrace juried outdoor art show was held on Saturday. It brings fine art vendors together to sell and showcase their work.  Founders Adrienne Nesbitt and Brad Hunsberger are both Goshen College alumni, as are many of the artists. “You can walk amongst the booths and there’s a high percentage of artists who are living and working in Goshen who are Goshen College Alumni,” Nesbitt said. GC’s Music Together program, a childhood music and movement class, also holds their end of summer celebration to open the live music at the event.  This year, GC’s Art...

By Annika Alderfer Fisher • September 14, 2023 • Arts

This past summer, I went on the Southwest Indigenous Perspectives SST and had the privilege of hearing from several Navajo artists during my time out west. One of those artists was Myron Denetclaw, a fifth-year art major at Diné College. In this painting, Denetclaw — meaning “left-handed,” even though he is actually right-handed — depicts four stalks of corn, each of different colors, surrounded by a rainbow. The four colors represent the four sacred mountains of the Navajo, with North being black, blue being South, yellow being West and white being East. The artwork is a recreation of a sandpainting,...

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

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

On April 27 in the Umble Center, there will be a presentation of two senior capstone films, both written, directed and produced by senior film production and writing major Court Templeton.  The first of the two is titled “Semangat: Into the Unknown,” following the stories of the Indonesia Study Service Term (SST) group that traveled to Philadelphia before traveling abroad in the spring semester of 2022. It is the capstone project for her SST trip.  The second is titled “Sanctuary,” and is a horror film that follows the story of a girl that has been taking shelter in her home...

By Sarah Miller • April 13, 2023 • Arts

This weekend is Earthtones: Songs From Many Cultures — the final choir concert of the year. Earthtones concerts maintain a tradition of celebrating diverse music from many cultures around the world. This particular Earthtones is also coupled with a celebration of Mary Oyer’s 100th birthday, which was on April 5.  Vox Profundi and Chamber Choir director Dr. Scott Hochstetler stated that Oyer, a former Goshen College music and fine arts professor, “influenced a couple generations of Goshen College students, including music majors and many, many non-majors” during her tenure.  The focus Earthtones places on diverse music makes it an apt...

By Grace Hitt • April 13, 2023 • Arts Kate Bodiker • April 13, 2023 • Arts

Goshen College band Lavender Jazz will be putting on their final show of the school year on Wednesday, April 5, in Umble Center under the direction of Greg Smucker.  The show is set to include full group pieces as well as smaller group combos.  Though Umble Center has not been the normal location for most GC ensembles to perform, Smucker said, “we like the connection we experience with the audience when performing in the Umble Center.”  With a more intimate space, the group often gets the chance to interact with members of the audience better. Jazz as a genre is...

By Sarah Miller • March 30, 2023 • Arts

Goshen College’s International Student Club (ISC) will present its annual Coffeehouse show this Saturday in Sauder Concert Hall.  Before the concert, a potluck meal will take place in the College Mennonite Church Fellowship Hall.  A portion of the proceeds from the dinner and show will be used to support Mennonite Central Committee’s earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey. Goshen’s international student population includes 73 people from 32 different countries.  One student, Silas Immanuel, an accounting and film studies double major from India, is part of the ISC leadership team of five who plan the event every year.   “Coffeehouse is...

By Olivia Koop • March 30, 2023 • Arts

This weekend, Goshen College’s theater program will open the spring mainstage musical: Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.” The last time the show was done at GC was in 2003. The show reconsiders who really deserves the title of hero or villain in a fairy tale while involving storylines from “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Rapunzel.”  Director Amy Budd described it as being primarily a story about “the importance of caring for your neighbors.” The actors began rehearsals in January to prepare for opening night.  Fatima Rhana, a sophomore music and theater double major playing the...

By Kate Bodiker • March 23, 2023 • Arts

Last Sunday, Rieth Recital Hall welcomed guest artists Noreen and Phillip Silver, better known as The Silver Duo, to share their talents with the Goshen community.  The husband-and-wife, piano-and-cello duo from the music faculty of the University of Maine performed works by J.S. Bach, Camille Saint-Saёns, Paul Ben-Haim and a trio by Vasyl Barvinsky which featured Goshen College’s own Solomia Soroka on violin. The Silver Duo is known around the world for performing chamber music. They became a duo while they were studying together at the New England Conservatory of Music. Both have been on various faculties for prestigious music...

By Sarah Miller • March 23, 2023 • Arts

Lapp Klassen’s show will feature six acrylic paintings. Oskar Sunderland is a graphic design major. Greaser simultaneously prepared for her senior art show and recital. Lee Bergey’s show will feature mixed media collages. Caroline Greaser is a graphic design and music major.   Sunderland will be presenting mock tour posters. Art professor Sarah Method advises Greta Lapp Klassen.

By Julia (Hyeyin) Jun • March 16, 2023 • Arts

For some Goshen College students, wrapping up senior year can look like papers, projects and presentations. Other students have something else to work towards: their final shows as students.  For the arts program, students get the chance to exhibit their work in Hershberger Art Gallery. For music students, they compile an hour’s worth of music to perform for a live audience in Rieth Recital Hall. This year there are four students having their work featured in the senior art show, using their own mediums to create something unique to display as a marker of their growth in the program.  There...

By Sarah Miller • March 16, 2023 • Arts

Sauder Concert Hall was full on Saturday night as students, families and community members gathered to hear the sounds of the 63rd Concerto-Aria Concert. The yearly competition was held last fall to determine the lineup for the concert. After extensive preparation, competitors auditioned with their chosen repertoire. There were seven winners that got the chance to showcase their talents with the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Victoria Petrak.  The concert opened with GCSO performing Ethel Smyth’s “Overture to ‘The Wreckers.’” The piece, from one of Smyth’s operas, was chosen because of her determination to have her work...

By Sarah Miller • February 23, 2023 • Arts

On Friday, Feb. 24, Goshen College’s Chamber Choir will kick off a weeklong tour spreading love across churches, colleges and high schools in Illinois, Kansas and Iowa.  The theme of this year’s tour is “Lead with Love,” named after the final song of the repertoire by Melanie DeMore. Other songs of the tour also connect to the theme of love in many forms: love of God, neighborly love and even love of country through a Ukrainian hymn.  According to Chamber Choir director and music professor Scott Hochstetler, “‘Lead with Love’ helps us focus on being a leader for people instead...

By Amelia Witmer-Rich • February 23, 2023 • Arts

When people think of Goshen College, some may think of the Mennonite background or SST units. But Priscilla Tanujaya, a recent graduate with music and art degrees, had an unusual thought about GC’s small campus.  As a lover of sci-fi movies and video games, Tanujaya imagined a very different version of GC.  “What if Goshen College is being invaded by aliens?” she asked herself. And there, her senior art project was born.  She initially began with her painting of the Science Hall and Coffman Residence Hall being swarmed by aliens.  “Cool thing about this project was how Randy [Horst] just...

By Fatima Rhana • February 16, 2023 • Arts

On a sunny Sunday afternoon last week, Rieth Recital Hall was filled with chamber music as Goshen College’s Sherer Trio performed works by Beethoven and Brahms. The hall was filled with students and community members eager to attend. Members of the trio include Matthew Hill, Solomia Soroka and Dato Machivariani — all music professors at GC. Machivariani teaches applied cello at Valparaiso University along with GC. Soroka teaches private violin lessons, music theory and chamber music. Hill is faculty chair and music department chair in addition to his responsibilities teaching applied piano lessons and various other classes around the music...

By Sarah Miller • February 16, 2023 • Arts