Lebanon Valley College Concert Choir to Perform in Beethoven Blockbuster

Concert Choir Performance, April 17, 8 p.m., Hershey Theatre

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The Lebanon Valley College Concert Choir will perform in Beethoven Blockbuster on Friday, April 17 at 8 p.m. at the Hershey Theatre.

ANNVILLE, PA (03/27/2015)(readMedia)-- The Lebanon Valley College Concert Choir will perform in Beethoven Blockbuster with the Hershey Symphony Festival Chorus and the Dickinson College Concert Choir on Friday, April 17 at 8 p.m. at the Hershey Theatre. The choruses will perform Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor "Choral" Op. 125. Tickets for the performance can be purchased online at www.HersheyTheatre.com or by calling the Hershey Theatre Box office at 717-534-3405.

Dr. Mark Mecham, D. Clark and Edna Carmean Distinguished Professor of Music, directs the 75-voice Lebanon Valley Concert Choir, Dr. Amy Wlodarksi directs the Dickinson College Choir, and Sean Hackett, who received a bachelor's in music education with a dual emphasis in trumpet and voice from Lebanon Valley College in 1993, directs the Hershey Symphony Festival Chorus.

The Lebanon Valley College Concert Choir has toured each year, primarily in the Northeast, since 1936. In addition, the choir has been heard on more than 30 NBC national radio broadcasts including National Radio Pulpit and Great Choirs in America. The choir has performed with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and holds a standing invitation to appear at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City. Other non-tour appearances have included the Lighting of the National Christmas Tree, the Festival of Lights at the Washington, D.C., Temple Visitor's Center, performing at the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, and appearances before the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association and the Music Educators National Conference Eastern Division Convention in Washington, D.C. The choir has toured internationally to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (1973), Great Britain (1999), Italy (2001), Central Europe: the Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary (2007), and Scandinavia: Norway and Denmark (May 2011).

Mark Mecham was chair of the Department of Music at Lebanon Valley College from 1990–2014. He was named the D. Clark and Edna Carmean Distinguished Professor of Music, and received the Thomas Rhys Vickroy Distinguished Teaching Award in 1998. As director of choral activities, he conducts the LVC Concert and Chamber choirs. In August 1992, he appeared as guest conductor of the Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and from 1993–2002 served as the musical director of the Lebanon County Choral Society. At the May 2012 Commencement, the Lebanon Valley College Student Government honored Mecham as Educator of the Year. Retired from full-time teaching in December 2014, Mecham is finishing out the choral academic year with this Spring Tour and Home Concert.

Professor Mecham graduated from the University of Utah with degrees in music education and choral conducting. He completed his doctorate in musical arts in Choral Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Mecham has taught at Southern Utah University, the University of Texas at Tyler, and the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. Active in the American Choral Directors Association, he was Utah State President, 1989–90, and president-elect in North Dakota, 1978–80, and served as the repertoire and standards chair for College and University Choirs, 1999–2001 for ACDAPA. He has conducted, adjudicated, and given choral clinics in 21 states, Washington, D.C., Austria, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Hungary, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, and Norway.