MONMOUTH – Western Oregon University’s Chamber Singers will be spending their winter break performing in China, from December 9 through 22. The trip is sponsored by WOU’s Music Department and Office of International Students and Scholars Affairs.

The choir, led by music professor Solveig Holmquist, D.M.A., will perform at Anshan Normal University, Shenyang University, Dalian Polytech University and the China Central Academy of Fine Arts. The Chamber Singers will be jointly perform with Anshan Normal University Student Choir, and interact with Chinese students and faculty. The group will also visit the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Ming Tombs, Summer Palace and many other attractions in China. Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Stephen Scheck, Ph.D., will accompany the choir on the trip.

The Chamber Singers, a highly select ensemble of 24 to 28 students, performs challenging repertoire for the smaller choir, ranging from Renaissance madrigals and Bach motets to newly composed works. In demand throughout the region, the Chamber Singers maintain a rigorous performing and touring schedule. Among their recent credits are performances for the Oregon Music Educators Association, a Carnegie Hall debut and the preparation of a CD for the publishing company Boosey & Hawkes.

Holmquist, in her tenth year at Western Oregon University, serves as director of choral activities and co-head of the Music Department. Her teaching duties include conducting the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, providing musical direction for the yearly musicals in collaboration with the Theater and Dance Department, and teaching courses in conducting, choral methods, and choral literature. As an associate conductor in residence for MidAmerica Productions in New York, she made her fourth appearance conducting on the Carnegie Hall stage in February 2007, with WOU Chamber Singers as the core ensemble.

There will be further information detailing the experience when the choir returns to classes for winter term.

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Contact:
Neng Yang
Director of International Students and Scholars Affairs
503-838-8590 or 503-689-3551 (cell)

Solveig Holmquist
Associate professor of music