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STAMBAUGH AUDITORIUM Choral festival promotes peace
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Becoming proficient in singing and developing core concepts of musicianship require talents including discipline, focus and a keen ability to listen to others – the same qualities that contribute to laying the groundwork for a more peaceful society, a longtime music professor contends.
“Some qualifications are to quiet yourself down and listen to someone else,” explained Dr. Hae-Jong Lee, director of choral activities at Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music. “If you sing too loud, even if you have the best voice, you can’t hear others.”
Suffice it to say that those attributes flowed freely through the two-hour Giving Voice to Peace II Choral Festival and Peace Concert on Friday night at Stambaugh Auditorium.
The Stambaugh Chorus, which Lee conducts, performed perhaps the show’s premier highlight: the seven-part Faure Requiem. Gabriel Faure, a French composer and organist, wrote the piece in the late 1880s.
Lee also cited a 2009 research project that says adults and children who sing in choirs tend to be more philanthropic, exhibit greater civic leadership skills, get better grades in school and show improvement in academics.
The concert was largely to promote peace, hope, positivity and other related themes, noted David C. Smith, the 60-member Stambaugh Chorus’ treasurer.
The all-volunteer, nonprofit chorus has members in their 20s through their 80s with a variety of musical experiences and backgrounds, said Smith, adding that the group did its first peace concert about five months ago and also gives Christmas and outreach performances.
Also offering their choral-music interpretations were Ashtabula County Choral Music Society Chorale, Fitch High School Concert Choir, Maestro Arts Youth Concert Choir, Mahoning Valley Chorale, Warren Civic Chorus Children’s Choir and Wilmington Area High School Chamber Choir.
The groups performed selections such as “Peace I Leave with You,” “Sing for Joy,” “A Gartan Mother’s Lullaby” and “Let There Be Peace.”
The gathering also was dedicated to the late Dr. Barbara Modic, former Stambaugh Chorus president and Smith’s wife. Making remarks on behalf of Modic was state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th.
The multigenerational chorus thoroughly enjoys sharing the stage and singing with other performers of all ages, said Kellie Mather, Stambaugh Chorus’ president.
Treasurer Smith said he wanted attendees to take away key values the performance tried to espouse.
“I hope people will go back home with peace in their hearts after hearing the requiem,” he said.
Stambaugh Chorus is accepting new members. Anyone interested in joining the group is asked to visit www.stambaughchorus.org.