MACON – The Mercer University Flute Choir was selected by audition to perform in a Flute Choir Showcase at the 2011 National Flute Association Convention in Charlotte, N.C. on Friday, Aug. 12. The flute choir is the first instrumental ensemble to be invited to perform and represent Mercer University at a national conference.
The National Flute Association, a not-for-profit institution, is the largest flute organization in the world. Members include leading soloists, orchestral players, college and university professors, adult amateurs, and students of all ages. The NFA annual convention brings together the most outstanding flutists from around the world, and provides a showcase for exceptionally talented young musicians. The NFA sponsors 16 competitions to select outstanding flutists to perform at its conventions and to reflect the diverse talents of its members.
Members of the flute choir include Michelle Allen, Brandi Babb, Abby Chang, Sophia Clark, Kelley Dixson, Christina Hennecken, Katie Martin, Joanna Malcom, Heather Mohler, Katy Nichols, Alexandra Vignolo and Meghan Williams.
The Mercer University Flute Choir performs an extensive and challenging repertoire ranging from transcriptions of classic works to some of the newest and most exciting original compositions available for the medium. In addition to the concert flute, the range of the choir is expanded to five full octaves with the addition of the piccolo, alto flute and bass flute. Membership in the Mercer University Flute Choir is open to all students, music majors and non-majors, as well as members of the community by audition. Students who wish to enroll in the flute choir as a class receive one hour of credit for their participation. The ensemble presents a formal concert in the Neva Langley Fickling Hall each semester, occasionally performs on tour, and at other venues in the Macon area.
Kelly Via, conductor of the Mercer Flute Choir, received a Bachelor of Music degree from Drake University and the Master of Music from East Carolina University. He is the piccoloist with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and Macon Symphony Orchestra.
About Townsend School of Music
Mercer is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Music. Mercer’s Townsend School of Music and the Townsend-McAfee Institute for Graduate Studies in Church Music offer undergraduate and graduate professional music studies in a comprehensive university environment. The School is nationally recognized for its outstanding faculty, award-winning students, performance ensembles and state-of-the-art facilities and is home to the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings.
About Mercer University
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University enrolls more than 8,200 students in 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies – on major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah and at four regional academic centers across the state. Mercer is affiliated with two teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah and the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. The University operates an academic press and a performing arts center in Macon and an engineering research center in Warner Robins. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia to field an NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.
–30–
