Waldorf’s First Music Career Day and Concert a Success
By Kyle Ennis
The Waldorf Music Department hosted its spring concert on Wednesday, March 13. The concert celebrated Music Career Day at Waldorf, and featured the Waldorf Choir, Waldorf Wind Symphony and Schola Cantorum. The concert also featured a keynote speech from Dr. Ben Allaway.
Ben Allaway is a well known choir director, conductor, and composer from Iowa. He has composed many original works throughout his career, with many of them centered around his time spent in East Africa. Those works have the goal of bringing together multiple cultures through the power of music. His piece Freedom Come is a part of his larger work titled Bandari and has become a staple of this year’s Waldorf Choir. This piece tells the story of the building of the Bandari, a community area in East Africa. At the Bandari, people free themselves of their struggles and celebrate the great things in their lives. Freedom Come showcases these glorious moments in the Bandari.
Inside these walls
Freedom come, freedom come
Come one and all
Freedom come, freedom come
Powerful words for a powerful place.
The concert opened with the the Waldorf Wind Symphony’s performance of Robert Jager’s Third Suite, a bright, fun and light-hearted piece. This was followed by a much more somber piece in Be Thou My Vision by Travis J. Cross. The Wind Symphony then ended their performance with Brian Balmages’ Infinite Hope, which is a song of courage and hope.
The Waldorf Choir showcased a wide range of choral music. They opened with Allaway’s Freedom Come, complete with three Bandari dancers. The choir then performed Joseph Haydn’s Gloria, a piece featured in his Mass in Time of War. Schola Cantorum then performed Come Sweet Death, a dreary piece with a very special twist. The Waldorf Choir then closed with Robert Ray’s He Never Failed Me Yet and Beautiful Savior written by F. Melius, both staples of the Waldorf Choir.
The Waldorf Music Department and Dr. Ben Allaway thank all who joined them on March 13.