DETROIT, MI (March 12, 2007) – The Wayne State University Concert Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Norah Duncan IV, has been invited to participate in the Fleischmann International Trophy Competition, the centerpiece of the 53rd annual Cork International Choral Festival. The Festival takes place in Cork, Ireland May 2 – 6, 2007. The WSU Concert Chorale will perform on May 5 in Cork’s 1,000-seat City Hall in the Festival’s Trophy Competition. The WSU Concert Chorale is the fourth U.S. choir invited to participate in this prestigious competition since the Festival’s inception 53 years ago. The choir will also perform non-competitively on Sunday, May 6 as part of the Festival’s closing Gala Concert, as well as in two free public performances during the Festival in metropolitan Cork.
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2007 Fleischmann International Trophy Competition Choirs |
Founded in 1954, the Cork International Choral Festival was created to serve as a dynamic force in developing choral music in Ireland. It is held annually in late April or early May in Cork’s City Hall – one of the most attractive and acoustically superior venues in Ireland. The Festival adheres to high competitive standards and is one of Europe’s premier international choral festivals. The WSU Concert Chorale was one of ten choirs selected to perform for a panel of five international judges in the Festival’s final concert. Drawing largely from Western Europe and the United Kingdom, the Wayne State Concert Chorale is the only U.S. choir participating in the 2007 Festival. Choirs from Belarus, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Italy, and Norway will be competing with the Concert Chorale for the Fleischmann International Trophy.
The WSU Concert Chorale participated this past fall in a rigorous selection process to win an invitation to the Cork International Choral Festival. Participation in this Festival will provide the students an international musical experience, a “real world education” in multi-cultural and global music making. The selection requirements for the Fleischmann Competition involves submission of a recorded program of compositions from three different categories, all performed a capella. Entrants are required to perform a work from before 1750, one contemporary work, and one work from the choir’s home country. The stringent rules, notably the a capella requirement, expose both the skills and weaknesses of the choir and its conductor.
The Concert Chorale, an ethnically diverse student choir, will have the opportunity to expose other nation’s choirs to authentic American choral music while hearing the music and performance practices native to other countries. This “hands-on,” cross-cultural experience and education directly supports Wayne State University’s mission to promote awareness of “human diversity”. Participation in this international festival will deepen the student’s awareness, respect, and understanding of other cultures.
Directed by Norah Duncan IV, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the WSU Music Department, the Concert Chorale’s 30 members will be traveling abroad for the first time since their participation in Poland’s Cantat Choral Festival in 2000. The WSU Concert Chorale is an entirely undergraduate student group, representing all WSU Music majors, including performance and music education students. This premiere choral ensemble performs literature of the 16th through 20th centuries, including compositions with orchestra and works in contemporary formats. The Concert Chorale strives, through its diverse and demanding repertoire, to bring its audiences the best choral literature performed with the highest possible artistry and professionalism. They appear regularly with the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra, the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, and the Archdiocesan Chorus of Detroit. Under the direction of Professor Duncan, the choir has presented concerts to enthusiastic audiences throughout metropolitan Detroit, including the performance of such large choral works as Verdi’s “Requiem” and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. The choir frequently performs choral works by American and African American composers. In February 2007, the choir performed a Festival of American Music featuring works by composer and Artist-in-Residence Samuel Adler and in 2005 a Concert of African American Spirituals featuring works by composers such as Moses Hogan, Robert A. Harris, Charles Brown, and Adolphus Hailstork. The ensemble presents concerts off-campus in Detroit’s Orchestra Hall and the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament as part of the Cathedral Cultural Series.
Norah Duncan IV, a resident of Farmington Hills, Michigan, is a multi-faceted musician. As a choral director, Dr. Duncan has presented major concerts for the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament’s Cultural Series with the Detroit Archdiocesan Chorus, and has collaborated in concerts with the Wayne State University choral ensembles, the Brazeal Dennard Chorale and the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra. In both 2004 and 2005, he directed the Michigan Youth Choral Ensemble in Carnegie Hall in New York City. As an organist, he has performed extensively in both the United States and Europe. Recently, he presented organ recitals in Trier, Germany, and Sydney, Australia.
Duncan’s liturgical career spans more than 26 years, recently retiring as music director for the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. He is the second longest serving Roman Catholic cathedral musician in the country. Among his notable achievements as a liturgical musician was serving as director of music for the historic visit of Pope John Paul II to Detroit in 1987. With the Benedictine Monastery in Solesmes, France, Dr. Duncan established the Gregorian Institute of Detroit for the study of Gregorian chant. He has presented papers on liturgical music at international congresses, clinics and workshops in Rome, Dublin, and in Nigeria for the Diocese of Engu and the Archdiocese of Abuja. Duncan is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently receiving the first “Changing Lives Through Music” Award presented to him by Anne Parsons, President of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.