Chamber Singers to perform Tuesday, April 3

Published or Revised March 28, 2007

The Paris Junior College Music Department present "An Evening with the PJC Chamber Singers" on Tuesday, April 3, in the sanctuary of Central Presbyterian Church. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. This elite choral group will debut a beautiful repertoire of sacred choral favorites such as, "For the Beauty of the Earth," by John Rutter, "I Will Arise," by Parker/Shaw, and, "How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place," by Johannes Brahms. As an exciting finale for the concert, the Chamber Singers have invited several area church choirs to join them on "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" by Wilhousky. All-State Choir member Tyler Little will sing, "Lord, Here I Am," arranged by Craig Courtney. Meshaya Wallace, another All-State Choir member, will salute Moses Hogan by singing his arrangement of "Give Me Jesus." Justin Hughes, PJC's first All-State band member in many years, will present a clarinet solo, and the ladies of the soprano section will be singing a unique arrangement of Pachelbel's "Canon." Also, a tradition of this concert is to feature long-time PJC accompanist, Charles Shelton, at the organ. According to PJC choral director, Pat Fowzer, this has been an especially exciting year for the Chamber Singers as they were chosen to sing the National Anthem for two major professional sports events. First, they sang the anthem for 18,000 fans at the AT&T Center in San Antonio before the San Antonio Spurs played the Los Angeles Clippers. In addition, they have been chosen to sing the anthem at a Texas Rangers ballgame for the fourth year in a row. A smaller group of the Chamber Singers will also be leading "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch time. They will perform the anthem on the afternoon of May 6 before game between the Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays. "It is not an easy task to be chosen for such honors," Fowzer said, "but this year's group of students are very diligent in their rehearsals for all their programs." Members of the PJC Chamber Singers are: Brandi Amos, Mike Benningfield, Laura Carrington, Amy Chennault, Donald Conklin, Dillon Dingman, Kristen Eudy, John Fornof, James Green, Samantha House, Justin Hughes, Kristie Lawrence, Tyler Little, Dori Logsden, Erin McDowell, Amber Orr, Whitney Palmer, Sammy Rollerson, Betty Swasko and Meshaya Wallace.