The Wake Forest University Concert Choir, from the USA, will sing at the 9:00 mass on Sunday 9 March 2014. The music will include pieces by Barnett, Paulus, Britten, Lauridsen and Irish composer Rhona Clarke. The choir is directed by Brian Gorelick, and will be accompanied on the organ by Joanne Inkman.
The Wake Forest University Concert Choir was founded in 1948 by the late Professor Thane McDonald. The choir represents the college on campus, in North Carolina and the Eastern United States, and tours internationally every three years. The 70-member mixed ensemble sings in the traditional Moravian Lovefeast held in Wait Chapel each December, the largest service of its kind in the country. In May 2007, the choir traveled to Vienna and Austria and performed concerts at the Votivkirche and Peterskirche in Vienna, the Bergkirche in Eisenstadt, and Melk Abbey. In March 2010 the choir traveled to Rome and Italy and performed concerts at Santa Susanna Church and St. Eustachio Church in Rome, Chris Cappell College in Anzio, and the Lower Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. The group has performed in the United States at the Washington National Cathedral, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the First Baptist Church in Washington, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, the Basilica of St. Vincent in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, Duke University Chapel, Heinz Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh, and the North Carolina Collegiate Choral Festival. The singers represent the finest vocal and musical talent on campus and major in music as well as many other academic subjects. The Concert Choir sings the significant choral literature from plainchant to recently composed works. Their CD recording of Minnesota composer Jeffrey Van’s A Procession Winding Around Me and A Sprig of Rosemary is available through Centaur Records.
Brian Gorelick is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Ensembles at Wake Forest University. Dr. Gorelick conducts the Wake Forest Concert Choir, the Collegium Musicum Vocal Ensemble, and the Wake Forest Chamber Choir and teaches Introduction to Western Music and Conducting. Before coming to Wake Forest, he taught at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Oklahoma City Community College, and directed the University of Wisconsin-Madison Women's Chorus while in residence as a graduate student under Robert Fountain. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois, studying with Charles Leonhard and Harold Decker. His Master of Music degree in choral conducting is from UW-Madison. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from Yale University where he directed the Whiffenpoofs men's chorus. Dr. Gorelick is currently national secretary and member of the executive board of the National Collegiate Choral Organization. He has served the American Choral Directors Association as a member of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association and as College/University Chair of the North Carolina-ACDA Choral Standards and Repertoire Committee. Dr. Gorelick was Choral Music Instructor at the West Campus of the North Carolina Governor's School in 1992. He studied conducting and choral techniques with Donald Neuen at UCLA and choral conducting with William Weinert and Dale Warland at Eastman School of Music. His article "Planning the Perfect Choral Rehearsal" was published in the Music Educators Journal in November 2001.
Joanne Inkman holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she was a Holderness Fellow and a teaching assistant. A native of Canada, she received her early musical training in Vancouver, British Columbia. As collaborative pianist, her trio won first place in the Friends of Chamber Music competition in Vancouver. She is an associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and the recipient of three British Columbia cultural grants. Dr. Inkman has participated in the Tibor Varga Festival in Sion, Switzerland and the Johanneson International Music School in Victoria, Canada. Her teachers include Eleanor Harkness, Rebecca Penneys, Clifton Matthews and Robin Wood. She is a 1984 graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts. A teacher, collaborative artist and soloist, Dr. Inkman has held faculty positions at Wake Forest University, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Lenoir-Rhyne College. She performs throughout the Eastern United States and made her New York debut in 1991 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Dr. Inkman is currently Lecturer in Music and Choral Accompanist at Wake Forest, where she teaches piano, class piano, Introduction to Western Music, music theory, and accompanies the Wake Forest Concert Choir.