DETROIT, MI (October 25, 2007) – The Wayne State University Department of Music will proudly present the 41st Annual Salute Concert to Downtown Detroit at noon on Thursday, November 15, 2007. This annual free lunchtime concert, which honors the city of Detroit and celebrates the beginning of the holiday season, will feature Gabriel Faure’s Requiem performed by the WSU Symphonic Chorus and Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Norah Duncan IV. The concert will also feature a short program by the WSU Choral Union, under the direction of Dennis Tini. This year’s concert is being held at St. John’s Episcopal Church of Detroit, located at 50 E. Fisher Freeway in Detroit (corner of Woodward Ave. and Fisher Freeway Service Drive). For additional information call (313) 577-1795 or visit www.music.wayne.edu.  

The Annual Salute Concerts, founded by the late Malcolm Johns in 1967, were originally designated as “Thanksgiving” concerts and have grown to be an institution treasured by Wayne State and the Metropolitan Detroit Community. Faure’s Requiem, the featured choral work for the 2007 concert, will feature WSU student soloists Haley Vining, soprano (Grosse Ile), Mitchell Owens, baritone (Wyandotte), Roman Laba, bass (Warren), and Brandon Gauvin, organist (Canton).

The Requiem will be conducted by Associate Professor Norah Duncan IV. Duncan, Associate Chair of the Wayne State University Department of Music, is a resident of Farmington Hills, Michigan. He directs the university’s Concert Chorale and Symphonic Chorus, and coordinates many of the choral showcases presented both on and off campus. Under his leadership, the WSU Concert Chorale was invited to perform at the 2006 state convention of the American Choral Directors Association. In May 2007, the Concert Chorale toured Ireland and performed at the 53rd Annual Fleishmann International Trophy Competition, only the fourth time in the history of the competition that an American choir was invited to participate. Additionally, in both 2004 and 2005, Duncan directed the Michigan Youth Choral Ensemble in performances in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. From 1980 to 2007, he served as the director of music for the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Duncan is the recipient of the Award for Excellence for Musical Direction from the American College Theater Festival, Washington, DC, the Thea Bowman Award of the Archdiocese of Detroit, the Spirit of Detroit Award, the Duchemin Award for exemplary community service, and, in 2006, was the first recipient of the "Changing Lives Through Music" Award presented to him by Anne Parsons on behalf of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.