As music students prepare for their end-of-the-year recitals, students and professors share valuable pre-performance advice. All recitals will take place in Rieth Recital Hall.     Ainslee Zou (cello), senior music and biochemistry major:  I have my senior thesis defense for my biochemistry major before my senior recital. Although there’s a lot of stress surrounding those things, I’m trying to think of both of these things as a culmination and a celebration of my achievements. (Zou’s senior recital will take place April 3 at 7:30 p.m.)   Bohan Lin (violin), senior music and business major:  Practice. Be humble before the...

By Julia (Hyeyin) Jun • March 31, 2022 • Arts

As the first spring mainstage with a live audience since before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” sets the bar up high for all future musical shows at Goshen College.  The show opened in the Umble Theater with an enthusiastic judge, a pining vice principal, a parolee, and six young spelling bee contestants (alongside four pre-selected audience participants). “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is a wild ride from start to finish — the script is full of witty banter, relatable characters dealing with difficult life situations, and ridiculous song breaks.  The tone...

By Claudia Mobley • March 31, 2022 • Arts

Rieth Recital Hall was intimately packed in, the audience listening attentively. The music started, and with the first three chords, I was drawn in by the depth of feeling. Cellist Natalia Khoma and pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky presented a rich recital on March 23rd that was expansive and expressive, painting pictures of stories past and present. Khoma and Vynnytsky told stories of sorrow, displacement and resilience, which was deeply felt by the audience, myself included.  Both Khoma and Vynnytsky hail from Lviv, Ukraine, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory. They hold extensive musical accolades and have performed and recorded music worldwide. ...

By Ainslee Zou • March 25, 2022 • Arts

Over spring break, Vox Profundi, Goshen’s low-voice choir, performed at churches and schools across the East Coast. Directed by Scott Hochstetler and accompanied on piano Ana Yoder Coulter, the choir gave concerts in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia and Ohio. Vox’s repertoire included a variety of music, from spirituals such as “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho,” to classical selections from Fauré and Bach, to the Tik-Tok famous whaling song “The Wellerman.” The tour was named “We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace” after the slow, mournful spiritual Vox sang at the end of each performance.  The song references...

By Phil Witmer-Rich • March 17, 2022 • Arts

Sauder Concert Hall was filled with ambient noise, increasing gradually as more and more people flowed into the room. It was time for the 62nd annual Concerto-Aria Competition. Through this competition, music students are given the opportunity to prepare an instrumental concerto or a sung aria — pieces written specifically to be accompanied by an orchestra. Students are adjudicated by an outside panel of judges, who chose four winners to perform with the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra (GCSO), currently directed by Brian Mast, music center executive director. This year’s winners included Augusta Nafziger, a junior writing and music major; Hannah...

By Phil Witmer-Rich • February 25, 2022 • Arts

The music department hosted the annual winter choral concert on Saturday, featuring all three campus choirs: Vox Profundi, Voices of the Earth and the Goshen College Chamber Choir.  The concert began with Vox Profundi, directed by Scott Hochstetler, singing a range of musical pieces, including a final song that was recently made popular on Tik Tok, “The Wellerman.”  Noah Kauffman, a senior member of Vox, said: “The second piece we sang, ‘Cantique de Jean Racine,’ was my favorite of the four songs. It was difficult learning how to sing in French, making it much more satisfying to see how our...

By Leah Kauffman • February 17, 2022 • Arts

While most professors have hefty books on their shelves, Jason Samuel, associate professor of communication, has filled his office with CDs.  Samuel was bitten by the radio bug early on. The first music he ever listened to was “probably my parents’ records,” Samuel said. These included popular rock and country bands and artists of the ‘60s and ‘70s such as The Beatles, The Kinks, Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins, to name a few.  “I can remember listening to a lot of Motown [growing up],” he added. In his Cub Scout days, his mother took him and his denmates to visit...

By Liam Morris • February 17, 2022 • Features

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

“Ain’t gonna let nobody… isolation… denigration… injustice, turn me around. I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’, marchin’ up to freedom land!” sang the Voices of the Earth choir as they performed the iconic civil rights movement song “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” during the King Convocation on Monday.  In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy, the choir also sang two other selections: “Ndandihleli” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” According to H. Roz Woll, assistant professor of music and director of Voices of the Earth, “Ndandihleli” is “an anti-apartheid song that was...

By Julia (Hyeyin) Jun • January 20, 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

They brought down the house at Kick-Off and Howell-o-ween this year, and they have no plans on stopping. They’re Goshen Panic, a group made up of seven Goshen College students: Sam Scheele, Ben Good-Elliot, Jonathan Orjala, Isaac Fisher, Birch Baer, Grace Hitt and Isaac Bontrager. Scheele, a junior music major and history minor who plays the euphonium and trombone, assembled the group in 2019 for a Kick-Off audition.  “We just kept going [after that],” he said.  Scheele is responsible for composing and arranging most of the band’s sets.  “I look at a mix of jazz and funk, and I add...

By Liam Morris • December 2, 2021 • Features

On Friday, Goshen College presented its annual fall choral concert in Sauder Concert Hall.  The concert featured the three Goshen College choirs: Chamber Choir, Vox Profundi and Voices of the Earth.  “There’s something about a performance that allows everyone to focus at the same time,” said H. Roz Woll, professor of music at Goshen College and director of Voices of the Earth. “It’s a chance for the choir to give something to the audience and take them somewhere. That can create a different musical experience.” Goshen College’s music department is made up of students and faculty from many different backgrounds...

By Jakyra Green • November 4, 2021 • Arts

Take a second and close your eyes. You are sitting on a plush cushion, completely relaxed as you are hugged by the well-worn couch. The lights are dim, and you feel safe. Beyond the windows roams the frightening cold of the night. The air is warm as you hold a hot mug of coffee in your hand.  However, we should pause there, noting that we do not discriminate against our cold coffee drinkers — yet, for the purpose of this dramatic, overtly drawn-out and rather magnified narration, a cold coffee just doesn’t quite fit the vibe. We must also account...

By Hannah Kurtz • November 4, 2021 • Arts

On Sunday, Oct. 24, Goshen College presented its fall music program “Hope and Healing” in Sauder Concert Hall.  The program explored different themes such as racial tension, economic instability and climate change, all during a global pandemic.  “The music I selected all has to do with hope and healing,” said Scott Hochstetler, professor of music at Goshen College and director of the event. “We specifically chose healing because I knew we were going to be coming out of the pandemic. We need hope that we can get through this…It’s a very timely theme.” The event explored these themes on a...

By Jakyra Green • October 28, 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