Oglethorpe University Presents: "Come Away to the Skies: A High Lonesome Bluegrass Mass" by Wes Ramsay and Tim Sharp

Featuring Georgia's own Chuck Nation Bluegrass Band with Tim Sharp, guest Composer and Conductor, and the Oglethorpe University Singers

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ATLANTA, GA (04/04/2018) The Oglethorpe University Singers, joined by Georgia's own Chuck Nation Bluegrass Band, will perform an all-bluegrass lineup: Come Away to the Skies, A High Lonesome Mass.

The concert will be held Thursday, April 19, at 8:00 p.m. at the Conant Performing Arts Center at Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road, NE, in Brookhaven.

Hot off a Carnegie Hall bluegrass performance, guest Composer and Conductor-in-Residence Tim Sharp will join forces with the Oglethorpe University choirs, as well as guest choirs from the Atlanta area for this one night-only performance. Sharp is the Executive Director of the American Choral Directors Association, the largest choral organization in the world, and is in his ninth season as Artistic Director of the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus. He will appear at Oglethorpe having recently conducted highly-acclaimed performances at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and around the world.

In addition, the concert will feature the Georgia premiere of Billy Boy by Oglethorpe's own Dr. Timothy Powell, director of choral activities, as well as his acclaimed new work, Dear Appalachia.

Tickets are $10, available at: oglethorpeuniversity.thundertix.com.

Dr. Sharp will also present a guest lecture on the roots of American folk music, bluegrass, and shape-note singing on Wednesday, April 18, at 6:30 p.m., in the Turner Lynch Campus Center (Trustee Room) at Oglethorpe University. Dr. Sharp's guest lecture is a unique opportunity for those interested in folk music or music composition and theory to learn about the techniques, history, and strategies from an internationally recognized talent. That event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Tim Sharp is Executive Director of the American Choral Directors Association, the world's largest association of choral conductors, teachers, students, scholars, composers, and choral industry representatives. Dr. Sharp has pursued an aggressive agenda of strategic planning and progressive and innovative initiatives to keep the American Choral Directors Association energized and relevant in the 21st century. He represents choral activity in the United States as a member of the Board of the International Federation for Choral Music, and is Vice-President of Musica International. Sharp appears regularly as guest conductor and clinician throughout the world, with recent performances in Austria, Thailand, Greece, Italy, Ireland, England, and China. Tim is in his ninth season as Artistic Director of the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In 2011, Sharp served as Principal Guest Conductor at the International Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece, where TOC was the featured chorus in the production of Verdi's La Traviata, and performed Rachmaninov's All Night Vigil at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. He made his New York City Alice Tully Hall debut in 2014 conducting Handel's Messiah. Tim returned to Carnegie Hall in May of 2015 for the seventh time conducting his own composition Come Away to the Skies: A High Lonesome Bluegrass Mass resulting it what one critic called a "dynamic, crowd-pleasing performance", and characterized the composition as "…unfailingly true to itself, lacking in pretense, simple, direct, and heartfelt." In 2016 Tim conducted the work at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Before coming to ACDA, Sharp was Dean of Fine Arts at Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, where he conducted the Rhodes Singers and MasterSingers Chorale. In 2003, Sharp's production of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi won an Ostrander Award, Memphis' annual award for excellence in theater. Prior to his position in Memphis, he conducted the Belmont University Chorale and Oratorio Chorus, Nashville, TN, where he received choral credits on the Grammy Nominated and Dove Award winning recording, A Glen Campbell Christmas.

Dr. Sharp's publications include Mentoring in the Ensemble Arts, Precision Conducting, Up Front! Becoming the Complete Choral Conductor, Achieving Choral Blend and Balance, Memphis Music Before the Blues, Nashville Music Before Country, Jubilate! Amen!, The German Songbook in the 19th Century, A Short History of the American Choral Directors Association, Collaborative Creativity, and a wide variety of published articles, essays, and CD liner notes for recordings by Helmuth Rilling, Iona Brown, Neville Marriner, and The King's Singers. His most recent book publications include the historical-critical edition Johannes Herbst: Hymns to be Sung at the Pianoforte, published by Steglein, and Collaborating in the Ensemble Arts: Working and Playing Well With Others, published by GIA. In 2017, GIA released Tim's third book in his ensemble series, Innovation in the Ensemble Arts: Sustaining Creativity.

The Chuck Nation Band, from Gainesville, Georgia, near Atlanta, made their Carnegie Hall debut performance in New York City in 2015, where they received a standing ovation and encore. In 2016 they performed in concert at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. They were 2016 Georgia Music Awards nominees for artist of the year. Chuck is a member of the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, a two-time Georgia State Fiddle Champion, Georgia State Mandolin Champion, and a Louisiana State Fiddle Champion. The band toured internationally to Ireland in 2012 and 2014, and in 2017 they traveled to China and Inner Mongolia for two weeks of performances at international folk festivals. Close harmony singing and superb instrumental playing are the hallmarks of their distinctive sound. They have performed the choral arrangement of High Lonesome Mass in concert over 20 times with conductor/composer Dr. Tim Sharp, and have recorded three CD projects: On A High High Mountain, Thinking About Home, and Beneath The Tennessee Moon.

Timothy Michael Powell is a composer, conductor, and music educator (not necessarily in that order!). Called "a skilled composer who understands the voice in all stages of development" by New York Concert reviews, Timothy's compositions eclectically span stylistic genres, and include majors works such as Wedding Mass, premiered at Carnegie Hall, Incarnatio Mysteria premiered at Lincoln Center in 2011, and St. George and the Dragon, a collaboration with renowned poet and lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri, premiered in April 2014 at Lincoln Center to rave reviews. His bluegrass triptych Dear Appalachia: Songs For My Mountain Home received rotating world premiere performances in Ireland and throughout the U.S., culminating in a Carnegie Hall premiere in 2017. Timothy was one of only 25 educators in the United States to be named a Semi-finalist for the 2016 Grammy Music Educator Award, and won the American Prize in Choral Performance in 2012. He was the 1999 National Choristers Guild Scholar, and a 2002 Fulbright Scholar to Bulgaria. Currently the Director of Choral Activities at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA, Timothy has successfully led choral programs in middle school, high school and colleges, performing multiple times by peer-reviewed invitation at NAfME and ACDA conferences. He holds a DMA in Conducting from the University of South Carolina and his bachelor's and master's degrees from Belmont University where he studied with Tim Sharp.

The Oglethorpe University Singers, led by Dr. Timothy Powell, director of choral activities, include:
ALTOS - Yasmin Anderson, Edie Brush, Alison Curl, Ansley Dyer, Amari Holmes, Victoria Lee, Cameron MacKenna, Kiana Perkins, Emily Schultz, Adowa Walo, Marisa Williams, Marlena Young, Gavonta Zanders; BASSES - Gregory Best, Luke Evans, Jacob Janes, Conor O'Toole, Loren Sokol, Jake Van Valkenburg, Max Wagner; SOPRANOS - Jessica Azrin, Raquel (Erin) Battaglia, Sarah Davidson, Mikayla Entrekin, Sammy Foster, Kennedy Henry, Becky Highsmith, Parker Hughes, Enjoli Johnson, Gillian Rabin, Lauren Sakryd, Piriya Sureshkumar, Nissi Villanueva; TENORS - Sam Clements, Caleb Feibus, Asim Javed, Wesley Johnson, Chandler Lakin, Alex Ray, Alex Wilson.

Founded in 1835, Oglethorpe University is Atlanta's only co-educational small private college, home to 1250 eclectic and engaged students from 33 states and 38 countries. Renowned for its groundbreaking Core program, Oglethorpe's academically rigorous programs emphasize intellectual curiosity, individual attention, close collaboration among faculty and students, and active learning in relevant field experiences. Oglethorpe joins theory and practice in its A_LAB (Atlanta Laboratory for Learning), an incubator for experiential learning through internships, study abroad, civic engagement, and undergraduate research. Under the leadership of President Lawrence Schall since 2005, Oglethorpe has entered an unprecedented era of innovation and growth, evidenced by increased enrollment and philanthropic giving, and new strategic entrepreneurial partnerships. Since 2013, Oglethorpe has seen the addition of an award-winning campus center; a residential complex with six state-of-the-art classrooms; and the expansion of arts and athletics facilities. Oglethorpe's partnership venture with LeadAbroad has expanded its global footprint with the development of five global campuses in Barcelona, Cape Town, Greece, London, and Rome. In 2019, Oglethorpe will open the I.W. "Ike" Cousins Center for Science and Innovation and the Q. William Hammack, Jr. School of Business. In 2017, Oglethorpe received a $50 million gift commitment, the largest in its history, from alumnus Bill Hammack '73 to establish the Q. William Hammack, Jr. School of Business. Oglethorpe is home to the Conant Performing Arts Center, Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, study abroad partner LeadAbroad, and the Piedmont School of Atlanta. The Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels compete in the NCAA Division III Southern Athletic Association. Website: oglethorpe.edu