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For immediate release

Concert of Shaw-Parker Favorites to be presented by Community Chorus

Peoria, IL (March 24, 2011) The Bradley Community Chorus, directed by Dr. John Jost, will present a concert of favorite Robert Shaw-Alice Parker choral arrangements on Sunday, April 10, at 3 p.m. in Dingeldine Music Center, located at 1417 W. Barker Avenue.  Admission is $5, students are free.  
 
Robert Shaw (1916-1999) is known as the “Dean of American choral directors.”  He prepared choruses for Toscanini, Szell, and other top orchestra conductors and later became director of the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus.  His famous Robert Shaw Chorale traveled the nation in the 1950’s and 60’s, giving concerts of primarily American choral music and proving that choirs could sing with the same precision and drama as the best symphonic orchestras.  His longtime associate Alice Parker was an expert choral arranger, and together they created some of the most beloved choral arrangements of all time.  
 
The Bradley concert will feature spirituals such as “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “If I Got My Ticket,” “Deep River,” and “Set Down, Servant;” old American hymns including “Wondrous Love,” “’Tis the Gift to Be Simple,” and  “Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal;” Irish folk tunes such as “Gentle Harp,” and “Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye,” and other folk song arrangements.  Masako Johnson will accompany on piano, and assistant directors Dr. Robert Ritschel (who is also president of Spoon River College in Canton) and senior music and history major Brach Jennings also will conduct.
 
Dr. Jost attended Robert Shaw’s last conducting workshop at Carnegie Hall in 1998 and is offering this concert as a tribute to Shaw’s character and influence.
 
Tickets may be purchased at the door or by calling 309-677-2650.