President's Welcome

Meghan Burns '13

Hello everyone! My name is Meghan and I am thrilled to be serving as President of the Chorus for the 2012-2013 year. I am a rising senior, majoring in English with a minor in music. 

It has been a great past year for the Chorus; we took a fantastic group of new women in both our fall and spring auditions, and they have already proven themselves to be dedicated and talented. Our Twilight concert was again a success, and we premiered one of our favorite pieces of the year, Sally Lamb's "Voices of the Hills" there. The piece, written for our commissioning project, "No Whining, No Flowers", set traditional Appalachian folk songs for female choir. We also performed again in Vespers with the Glee Club, where we sang to a completely full Sage Chapel in the annual service.

We had a busy spring here in Ithaca, kicking off with a performance of Karel Husa's Apotheosis of this Earth, which we performed with the Glee Club and the Eastman Wind Ensemble. The piece was intricate and very different, symbolizing the end of the world by using the choir parts often for sound effects rather than traditional melodic singing. When it came together, however, the result was extremely powerful for both singers and audience alike. 

After Husa the Chorus traveled South for our annual tour, singing and exploring in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Orleans. We met with so many amazing and helpful alumni and were hosted with kindness everywhere we went. We enjoyed singing in beautiful churches, as well as performing several school workshops, a joint concert with the Women's Chorus of Dallas, and as a feature group in New Orleans' "Bach Around the Clock" festival. 

When we returned from Tour we plunged into learning the complicated but stunning All-Night Vigil, an a capella chorale composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Together with the Glee Club we brought the Sage Chapel crowd to their feet after nearly an hour and a half of non-stop music. 

Finally, we said goodbye to our seniors with our Senior Week Concert, as well as performing at graduation and convocation. Our fourteen seniors will be so missed, and we are so thankful for all they have contributed to the Chorus in their years here!

I am looking forward to the year ahead, and so excited to help the Chorus continue to grow and expand. I am so honored to be working with all of our wonderful current singers and our dedicated alumnae! Thank you all for your continual support, participation, and love. I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

Sincerely,

Meghan