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Mississippi College Singers Performances Set for Carnegie Hall and South Africa in 2014


MC Singers pictured in Jennings Courtyard on the Mississippi College campus.

Performances in New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall, at a Florida convention of Southern choral directors and a series of concerts in South Africa will showcase a busy 2014 road season for the Mississippi College Singers.

“We are all so very proud of the hard work, dedication and musicality of the group, and of the recognition they are receiving,” says Angela Willoughby, who chairs the Mississippi College Music Department. “It’s due in no small part to their director, Jamie Meaders, and his persistence and vision in leading them to events that help them grow as musicians.”

The MC Singers January 19th concert at Carnegie Hall’s Perelman Stage should attract many Mississippians to Stern Auditorium for the 2 p.m. program.

The 55-member MC Singers will be joined that Sunday afternoon by choirs from eight other Mississippi schools. The choirs showing off their talents are from Clinton High, Northwest Mississippi Community College, Germantown High, Jackson Prep, Power APAC, Newton County High, Meridian High, and the Mississippi School for the Arts in Brookhaven.

With Meaders serving as conductor, the MC Singers will return for the fourth time in Carnegie Hall since 2006 to sing the New York premiere of Dan Forrest’s “Requiem for the Living.” The Singers also made their debut at New York City’s Lincoln Center in January 2012 to perform “Chichester Psalms” by Leonard Bernstein.

Less than two months after their New York journey, the MC Singers will be among the groups from the region to entertaining at the Southern Division Convention of the American Choral Directors in Jacksonville, Florida March 6-8. Other college groups chosen include singers from Auburn University in Alabama, the University of Georgia and Elon University in North Carolina.

The conference for choral directors from 11 states is booked at the Riverside Hyatt Regency Hotel. It’s the third time since 2004 that the award-winning mixed voice ensemble on the Clinton campus will perform at the meeting of the South’s choir directors, Meaders said. In April, the MC Singers are also appearing at the convention of the group’s Mississippi members in Hattiesburg.

Then, it’s off to South Africa for a return trip by the Mississippi College students and music professors on May 11. The MC Singers will combine their voices with students from the University of South Carolina, the Chamber Choir of South Africa, and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Force to present the timeless Brahms “Ein Deutsches Requiem” in Johannesburg. The visit to South Africa concludes May 24. The MC Singers previously put on a series of splendid concerts in South Africa in May 2011.

From New York to Jacksonville to South Africa, Willoughby predicts the MC Singers will be a big hit with their audiences. “I’m absolutely sure that each of these performances will be immensely enjoyed,” she said. “I’m also absolutely sure that the students who participate will be profoundly changed by their experiences.”

As they’ve done for more than two decades, the Mississippi College Singers will help launch the Christmas season in metro Jackson with the Festival of Lights at Provine Chapel on the Clinton campus December 5-7.

For more information, contact Dottie Serio of the Department of Music at 601.925.3440 or Serio@mc.edu.