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Chamber Choir Presents Concert April 11


Last updated April 4, 2013

By News administrator

The Furman University Chamber Choir will perform its spring concert Thursday, April 11 at 8 p.m. in Daniel Memorial Chapel on campus.

“From Depths to Heights: Reflections on the Abiding Presence of the Divine,” is free and open to the public. The 29-member choir is conducted by Furman music professor William Thomas. Furman University organist and music professor Charles Tompkins performs as accompanist, and Furman senior Adam Collins (Aberdeen, N.C.) performs cello music.

The concert features a wide spectrum of choral repertoire including choral psalms, prayers, hymns and spirituals. Among the works presented are selections by Gibbons, Palestrina, Bach, Duruflé, Fauré, Rutter, and southern spirituals arranged by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw.

Thomas has been a member of the Furman faculty since 1989. In addition to directing the Chamber Choir, he teaches studio voice, vocal pedagogy, conducting and church music courses. He also serves as director of the music department’s highly-regarded study away program, Music in Italy, now in its eighth year of operation. Having served as chair of Furman’s music department from 1993 until 2010, his career is marked by constant activity as a singer, conductor, clinician and church musician. Thomas worked closely with the late American conductor Robert Shaw studying, performing, and recording in this country and abroad.

A member of the Furman music faculty since 1986, Tompkins teaches organ, music theory and church music and is coordinator of keyboard studies. He also serves as organist of First Baptist Church in Greenville. An active recitalist and clinician, Tompkins performs each year at churches and universities throughout the United States, and has presented recitals at the Kennedy Center, the Piccolo Spoleto Music Festival and other venues. In 2011, he presented a series of programs in France and Switzerland, including a recital at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

For more information about the concert, call the Furman Music Office at 864-294-2086.

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