March 8, 2019
Story by Brandon Steinert
Barton Community College will present a Vocal Masterclass on Saturday, March 23rd, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Dorothy Moses Morrison Chapel.
Clinicians from the contemporary ensemble, The Meadowlark Project, from the University of Kansas will serve as the master teachers beginning at 2 p.m., followed by their own performance of “Sounds of the Plains” at 7 p.m. in the Chapel, located in the Fine Arts building.
Barton voice students will perform for the clinicians in a public setting and will receive feedback and instruction from the master teachers. The audience will learn from the performances and instruction, as well as from their own performance and work with the clinicians. Select area high school students will also participate in the vocal masterclass with the master teachers.
Barton Voice students performing in the vocal masterclass are Rachael Dickson of Ellinwood, Madison Jones of Great Bend, Drew Danner of Ellinwood, Anna Hislop of Wichita, Alex Robl of Ellinwood, Austin Carrington of Larned, Alyxius Torres of Great Bend, Kelsey Neeland of Great Bend and Kaitlin Adams of Great Bend.
Area high school students performing in the vocal masterclass are Dayton Long of St. John, Katherine Snapp of Great Bend, Andrew Maier of Claflin, Haley Troyer of Ellinwood and Hayden Honomichl of Ellinwood, Caden Rowan of Ellinwood and elementary student Jadynce Schroeder of Great Bend.
More about Sounds of the Plains
The recital by The Meadowlark Project will feature singers Neal Long, Kristin Newbegin, Mackenzie Phillips, Brian Sussman, and pianist Alejandro Avila.
The Meadowlark Project started 2018 after the founding members participated in a class at the University of Kansas comprised of four composers, four singers, and four pianists. The mission of the class was to develop new art songs specific to Kansas. At the conclusion of the class, 32 new songs were written by Kansas-based composers using texts by Kansas-based poets. Sounds of the Plains features 19 of the aforementioned songs. The songs are composed by Frank Nawrot, Ben Justis and Bonnie McLarty and highlight texts by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Wyatt Townley, Elizabeth Schultz and Megan Kaminski. The music explores ideas of nature and climate and their impact on the human experience in the American Midwest.