Arts & Entertainment

Rider Choral Ready for Spring Concert

This year's performance is set for Friday.

 

The Rider University Chorale, conducted by John McDonnell and accompanied by Brittany Montoro, will perform its annual spring concert on Friday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Gill Memorial Chapel on the campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville.

The program will include a variety of works, including classical, pop, sacred and secular music composed by Handel, Rutter, Brahms, Copland, Billy Joel and others.

Find out what's happening in Lawrencevillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Now in its fifth season, the Rider University Chorale focuses on the fundamentals of artistic choral singing and explores various choral repertoires. Composed primarily of Musical Theatre majors at Rider University, it is open to all students by audition.

Prior to teaching at Rider University, John T. McDonnell served as the director of choral music in the Pennsbury School District, whose choral program was recognized as one of the leading high school programs in the eastern United States. Mr. McDonnell, at the request of the National Choral Council, has conducted a portion of the “Messiah Sing” in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, and he has served as conductor for several festival choirs in the mid-Atlantic region. He has also presented numerous workshops for high school choral programs.  Mr. McDonnell held the position of assistant professor of music at The College of New Jersey, conducting the TCNJ Chorale, the TCNJ Women’s Ensemble, the TCNJ College Choir, and teaching choral conducting until 2010.

Find out what's happening in Lawrencevillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Brittany Montoro graduated from Westminster Choir College of Rider University with a Master's degree in Sacred Music. She is a piano and voice instructor at the Branchburg School of Music, and she is currently the music director and organist at the First United Methodist Church in Freehold. This is her first season with the Rider University Chorale.

Admission is free. Rider University is located at 2083 Lawrenceville Road, in Lawrenceville. For more information, visit rider.edu/arts.

 -Westerminster Choir College


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here