For Immediate Release: March 1, 2007

Contacts:
Melanie McDonald/ Amanda Goetz
Media Relations
574-284-4579 or mmcdonal@saintmarys.edu

Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir Concludes Tour Back Home

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir will conclude its spring concert tour in the Church of Our Lady of Loretto on campus. The performance is Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. The Women’s Choir tour also includes performances in St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Antonio, beginning March 11 and continuing throughout the week of spring break. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir, a select 38-voice ensemble, regularly commissions and performs new works for women’s voices. The concert features sacred and secular music by many contemporary composers, including the world premiere of a new piece by American composer William Hawley entitled “Alma Redemptoris Mater.”

The Choir has performed throughout the United States and has appeared before major conventions of the Music Educators National Conference and the American Choral Directors Association. In February 2005, the Choir appeared before the national convention of the American Choral Directors association in Los Angeles at the new Walt Disney Concert Hall. They performed at Carnegie Hall in 1999, 2001, and 2005, and have recorded three compact discs on the ProOrgano label: “Ave, Ave!” recorded in 1997, “Amazing Day!” recorded in 2002, and “Anima mea!” recorded in 2004.

The Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir is conducted by Professor Nancy Menk, who holds the Mary Lou and Judd Leighton Chair in Music at Saint Mary’s College. In November 2007, Menk will make her fifth appearance at Carnegie Hall, conducting Mozart’s Requiem. The Choir is accompanied by Beverly Butler, an accomplished organist and pianist, and adjunct faculty member at Saint Mary’s College.

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