Ralph Stanley, who “The New York Times” described as “the living patriarch of bluegrass,” performed in  Sauder Concert Hall last Friday night along with the bluegrass Clinch Mountain Boys as part of the Performing Arts Series. Stanley, 82, began performing professionally with his late brother, Carter, in 1946. He has since won wide acclamation and numerous Grammys, including one for his part in the “O Brother Where Art Thou?”  soundtrack. The first numbers of the program featured the quick-picking Clinch Mountain Boys, decked out in black suits and tan cowboy hats, whose various soloists had the crowd clapping. Soon after, Ralph...

By Andrea Kraybill • February 9, 2010 • Arts

Passionate performance and rigorous rehearsing reached its culmination at Saturday evening’s 50th annual Concerto-Aria Concert competition. Held in Sauder Concert Hall, 446 students, family and friends witnessed a musical event highlighting six student performers. Students audition in the fall and are judged by the Goshen College music faculty. Concertos feature soloists backed by the orchestra, and it involves intense rehearsal for both parties. “Concertos are some of the most difficult things for orchestral musicians to play,” said Gregg Thaller, orchestra director. “They’ve got to count beats and measures, watch the conductor, and listen like crazy—all at the same time while playing the...

By Andrea Kraybill • February 9, 2010 • Arts

Three-time Grammy winners. Openers for Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. Contributors to soundtracks such as “The Sopranos,” “The Simpsons,” and “Spy Kids.” Performers for the First Family. All these achievements define Los Lobos, a high-energy American-Chicano rock band that will be performing at our own Goshen College, this Saturday, November 21. Los Lobos, or “the Wolves,” has been performing for three decades, ever since they joined together as adolescents to play at weddings and bars in Los Angeles. Since then, their music has evolved from simply rock and acoustic to traditional Spanish and Mexican songs, and finally to a...

By Becca Kraybill • November 19, 2009 • Arts

Goshen College is launching a local chapter of a national music program called “Music Together,” a curriculum designed for young children and their parents. The program has the potential to move beyond the GC campus and out into the community. This new program provides opportunities to strengthen family bonds, learn new life skills through musical instruments and songs, and enrich children’s vocabulary at an early age. Brian Wiebe, director of GC’s music center, and Deb Kauffman, director of Community School of the Arts, have brought this new, research-based program to the Goshen College campus and community. The goal is to...

By Yolo Perez • November 18, 2009 • Features

The Campus Activities Counsel has four exciting Hour Afters in store for the campus. On Friday the 13th at 10:00 p.m., a Pop Choir Coffeehouse will feature a cappella singing from the student group “The Dynamics.” The group will perform selections from artists Justin Timberlake, The Beatles, Imogen Heap, The Wailin’ Jennys and more. Patrick Ressler, a junior, organized the event. The concert is currently sold out, but hopeful students without tickets can still come to the door of Newcomer on Friday and perhaps find an extra seat. On Sunday the 15th at 8:00 p.m., a musical performance called “Coming...

By Becca Kraybill • November 11, 2009 • Arts

    The following is an excerpt from “A Violin Professor Going on 17,” a profile of Solomia Soroka written by Alysha Landis. Solomia Soroka, an assistant professor of music at Goshen College, knew her career path when she was only 6 years old.  Despite her childhood dream to become a biologist, her mother enrolled her in music school.  Ever since then, it has always been about music – and the violin – for Soroka. For a child growing up in L’viv, a large city in western Ukraine, learning an instrument at age 6 was considered a late start.  Soroka...

By Alysha Landis • November 11, 2009 • Features

With diverse interests and artistic specialties, the Parables worship team comes together about once a week to share their many gifts but same spirit with congregations and other Christian functions in the area. They recently held one such program for prospective students and local youth groups in Reith Recital Hall. After beginning the evening with an up-beat, foot-kicking African number, the 10-person group introduced their repertoire as stories from the Bible and from their own lives. “We encourage you to listen with an open heart so you, too, can find some truth in it,” said Aaron Kaufmann, a sophomore. In...

By Sarah Rich • November 4, 2009 • Arts

Ted Swartz, of Ted & Company TheaterWorks, will be coming to Goshen on Saturday, Nov. 7 for the first time in 11 years. Swartz, father of current student Derek Swartz, a senior, will be performing with Trent Wagler of Harrisonburg, Virginia along with Jay Lapp, a Goshen alumnus and native, and a choir of local singers. Rachel Lapp, assistant professor of communication and sister of Jay Lapp, said, “Ted does something so unique with his shows…it’s a great model for those in the arts who can think creatively about how to be entrepreneurial [and] to have a relevant voice in...

By Alysha Landis • October 14, 2009 • News

Balet Folklórico and the award-winning Mexican folk band Sones de México will perform at 8 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall on Friday, Oct. 23. Tickets are free with the donation of a canned item to The Window, a food pantry located on Main Street in Goshen. The concert is sponsored by Goshen College’s Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning (CITL) and by the Performing Arts Series. Concertgoers are encouraged to drop off their cans at the Performing Arts Center that evening. Ed Swartley, executive director of The Window, will be present with information about the food pantry’s services. CITL wanted...

By Kelsey Shue • October 14, 2009 • Arts

Dressed in long sparkling evening gowns and lit by the glittering lights of Rieth Recital Hall, music professors Rebecca Hovan and Christine Seitz welcomed their audience, as friends, to their “In the Parlor” themed recital last Saturday evening. They began their performance with a Mendelssohn piece, “Rondo Capriccioso,” with Hovan playing the flute while Seitz complemented and accompanied her on the piano. Off to the side of the stage was positioned a rocking chair, a desk strewn with books and a fern planted in a gold pot. All of these articles, as well as the slow, graceful movements of the...

By Sarah Rich • October 14, 2009 • Arts

Every year the Campus Activities Council (CAC) hosts several events that highlight student talent and help students bond campus-wide, but this fall, many students have been discussing how there have been fewer of  their favorite events, Hour Afters. Some students even have concerns that with a lack of these particular campus activities, students might be more likely to participate in weekend drinking. The funny thing is, there have been the same amount of CAC events thus far this year as there have been during the past several fall semesters: the Sing and Swing and Kick-off and an extra party after...

By Marlys Weaver • October 14, 2009 • Features

On Saturday evening, Sauder Concert Hall was stuffed to the gills with a peculiar range of students. Though half the attendees were current Goshen students sporting torn jeans and tennis shoes, the other half consisted of former students, now alumni; some with white hair, deep in conversation with their grandchildren. Despite this range in age, however, the music performed for the Homecoming Music Gala united all students, proving that Goshen continues to be a place of musical talent and personal growth. The Gala started with an introduction by director Debra Brubaker, inviting the audience “to our place of work and...

By Becca Kraybill • October 7, 2009 • Arts

Goshen’s One Act plays will open this Friday with the recurring theme of “think-for-yourself.” The plays will be performed throughout Homecoming weekend; on Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Umble Center. The One Acts are just what they sound like–single acts of a show–and they are usually student directed. They provide an opportunity for students to practice theater techniques outside of a classroom and they allow students not acting in a main stage play to be cast in larger roles. “Trifles,” the first play, is written by Susan Glaspell and will...

By Becca Kraybill • September 30, 2009 • Arts

Three years have past since Matisyahu released his sophomore and major label debut album, Youth. Two years ago he announced he was working on the third to be released early 2008, making it the longest time he has ever spent making a record. However, the release date of the album was pushed back multiple times because of tour off and on, making fans wait even longer for the anticipated album to drop. He then announced that it would be released the “summer of 2009” because he wanted to record some more new songs. Fans were growing weary of being disappointed...

By Trisha Danielle Handrich • September 23, 2009 • Arts

The 12 members of the Goshen College salsa team danced on the University of Valparaiso’s ballroom floor last Friday night for their first ever paid performance. The salsa team, a group of experienced dancers from the salsa club, danced as entertainment for Valparaiso’s Hispanic heritage dinner. Remembering how talented Goshen’s salsa club was, former Goshen student Ciara Reyes—who now attends Valparaiso—suggested that Valparaiso invite them to perform for this event. Goshen’s salsa club draws mostly from the rueda Cubana style of salsa—a group circle dance in which dancers continually swap partners. Joel Gonzalez, a recent Goshen graduate who actually founded...

By Sarah Rich • September 23, 2009 • Arts