Stephen Futrell, director of choral activities, will conduct a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall at 6 p.m., Sunday, April 2. The concert will be Futrell’s first at Carnegie Hall as a conductor.
Produced by Field Studies of New York, the concert will feature more than 200 high school singers who perform at Carnegie Hall as part of a learning experience that includes a tour of New York and a Broadway show. Field Studies contracts with choral conductors and educators to serve as a clinician and conductor for the mass choir. Futrell will rehearse the choir for two days before the performance.
The concert will include selections from the cultivated genre, such as the “Libera me” from Faure’s Requiem, a “Sanctus” by Craig Courtney, and “In Remembrance” by Ames. The concert will also include an arrangement of “Shenandoah” and “It’s a Most Unusual Day,” a patriotic melody and song by Freddie Mercury that was arranged by Futrell.
“Performing at Carnegie is definitely a thrill,” says Futrell, who previously sang at Carnegie with the University of Missouri at Kansas City’s Heritage Chorale while earning his doctor of musical arts degree. “Conducting a concert with a mass chorus of 200 singers will certainly be a moving experience.”
At Elon, Futrell arranges concerts featuring choral students in Camerata, Chorale and élan. He has performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, conducted “Messiah” with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and performed with Bobby McFerrin. He will serve as associate conductor and chorus master for the Aegean Verdi Festival in Mytilene, Greece this summer.
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