Carleton College will celebrate some of the best in popular American music in a special choral concert on Friday, May 24 at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall. “It’s Showtime, Folks!” will feature the vocal talents of the Carleton Singers (performing American jazz standards) and the Carleton Choir (performing semi-staged choruses from classic Broadway musicals). This event is free and open to the public.
The program opens with the Carleton Singers in “It’s All About Jazz,” a compilation of vocal jazz standard by such diverse composers as Duke Ellington, Manhattan Transfer, and The Swingle Singers. Joining them onstage will be a professional jazz combo led by jazz musician and instructor Laura Caviani. The Carleton Choir will conclude the evening with “Best of Broadway,” a series of semi-choreographed chorus numbers chosen from award-winning musicals ranging from the “Golden Age” to the modern productions.
Conductor Lawrence Burnett is a professor of music and the choral director at Carleton. A Carleton faculty member since 1993, Burnett previously taught at the State University of New York at Potsdam, and he has served as a conductor, clinician and adjudicator at many choral festivals and competitions throughout North America. Among other distinctions, Burnett was awarded the first-ever New York State Governors’ Award for African-Americans of Distinction in 1992 for “service, civic participation and selfless dedication to the Northern New York community.”
For more information about this event, including disability accommodations, contact the Carleton College Department of Music at (507) 222-4347. The Carleton College Concert Hall is located on First Street, between Winona and Nevada Streets, in Northfield.