Bradley University
Office of Public Relations
309.677.2242
www.bradley.edu

For immediate release

Sousa concert planned at Bradley

Peoria, IL (January 14, 2011) The Bradley University Symphonic Winds, conducted by Dr. David Vroman, will present a costumed, turn-of-the-century park concert on Sunday, February 20, at 3:00 P.M. in Dingeldine Music Center, located at 1417 W. Barker Avenue. The concert will be presented in the same style that John Philip Sousa used to entertain large audiences and which made him a household name throughout the United States.

A pre-concert lecture featuring stories of the Sousa band will be presented at 2:15 P.M. by Scott W Schwartz, the Director and Archivist for Music and Fine Arts for the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  

Admission is $15  Tickets are available at the Cultural Events Box Office in the Hartmann Center starting January 17 from 1 to 4 P.M. or call 309-677-2650. A limited number of tickets are available.

Vocalist Linden Christ will perform as Sousa's "Lady in White." The concert will feature novelty numbers and music of great composers fulfilling Sousa's dual function of entertaining the audience and bringing the best music available to the public. There will, of course, be marches performed which will stir the patriotic blood, and, according to Sousa, "will make a man with a wooden leg want to get up and march." The concert will be narrated by Bob Larson news anchor WMBD television.
 
Linden Kathleen Christ is pursuing a career as a professional singer, director, conductor, and teacher. In the summer of 2005, she made her international debut in Rome, Italy as Gretel in the opera Hansel und Gretel. While in Rome, she also was a featured soloist with the Rome Festival Orchestra. Linden made her professional debut in January 2008 as First Lady in Die Zauberflote with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre. She is the winner of numerous awards and scholarships including the National Association of Teachers of Singers, the DePauw Concerto Competition, and Handel's Messiah Sing-Along that featured Linden as the soprano soloist in Highland Park, Illinois. She has won the Bel Canto Bravo Award two years in a row in Chicago. She received a master’s degree in vocal performance and musicology at the Chicago College of Performing Arts in May 2008 while studying with renowned soprano, Judith Haddon.  She was the featured “Lady in White” for the Sousa Concert in 2009.

Scott W. Schwartz is the Director and Archivist for Music and Fine Arts for the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Prior to his arrival to Illinois in September 2003 he worked as an archivist for the American music collections at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.  He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from SUNY at Fredonia in 1980, Master of Music degree from Michigan State University in 1984, and completed three years of doctoral studies in ethnomusicology at West Virginia University.   His primary areas of research focus on preserving America's music heritage, American popular music, and the music and culture of the Appalachian serpent-handling communities of rural Kentucky.  In addition, he is associate professor of library administration and teaches courses in archival administration. He has played the lead role in the development of a research center for America's music at the University and has been responsible for the re-energizing of a national celebration, American Music Month, that recognizes the contributions made by educators, archivists, librarians, and curators for the preservation of America's cultural legacy.
 
Dr. David Vroman is the Director of Band Activities and the Chairperson for the Department of Music at Bradley.  In this capacity he conducts the Symphonic Winds, Symphonic Band, and Basketball Band.  He also teaches advanced instrumental conducting, brass techniques, marching band techniques, horn and supervises student teachers. During the summer months Dr. Vroman is the conductor of the Peoria Municipal Band that is comprised of some of the most outstanding wind and percussion performers in Central Illinois.
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Kath Conver
Senior Director of Public Relations
Bradley University
309 677-2242
www.bradley.edu