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Sunday concert is swan song for Dr. Joe Miller

April 5, 2006

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University's Collegiate Singers and University Chorale will celebrate Dr. Joe Miller's final concert as their conductor Sunday, April 9, at 5 p.m. in the Dalton Center Recital Hall.

Miller will leave WMU in June to assume responsibilities as director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. One of the nation's premier choral positions, Miller is only the third person in the school's history to hold this appointment.

The concert features music written for the passing of time. A cantata by Jonathan Dove, one of the choral world's young "phenoms," will be featured in conjunction with pianists Karl Schrock and Yu-Lien The, and the University Percussion Ensemble, directed by Judy Moonert. Other featured compositions include Sarah Hopkin's "Past Life Melodies," Eric Whitacre's "Water Night" and Leonard Bernstein's "Make Our Garden Grow" from "Candide."

In his seven years as director of choral studies, Miller has made a significant contribution to choral excellence not only in the School of Music but in the community, state, and region as well.

Under Miller's leadership the University Chorale won the Grand Prize at the Robert Schumann International Choral Competition in 2002, the Silver Medal at the 28th International May Choir Competition in 2005, presented featured performances at the American Choral Directors Association national (2003) and regional (2006) conventions, and performed for the opening concerts of the 2004 Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and the inaugural Michigan Festival of Sacred Music in 2001.

Sought after as a guest conductor and clinician, Miller has conducted high school and collegiate All-State Choruses in Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall in Boston, and in Illinois, Tennessee and Michigan during the current season.

Media contact: Kevin West, (269) 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu

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