Bethel College’s annual Masterworks program will be the final special event in a year celebrating the college’s 125th anniversary.
The concert is Sunday, May 5, at 3 p.m. in Memorial Hall on the Bethel campus and will feature a presentation of Haydn’s “The Creation” with the Bethel Oratorio Chorus, the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra and alumni soloists, along with a special performance by alumna Rachel de Benedet ’88.
Ticket prices range from $12-$5, general admission. Tickets are available in the Bethel College Bookstore during regular business hours, or at the door.
Franz Joseph Haydn wrote “The Creation (Die Schöpfung),” which many consider his masterpiece, between 1796-98. The oratorio depicts and celebrates the creation of the world, with the text based on the biblical books of Genesis and Psalms, and John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.”
“The Creation” is scored for soprano, tenor and bass soloists -- singing the parts of the archangels Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael -- chorus and symphonic orchestra, and is structured in three parts.
Soloists for the Bethel Masterworks “Creation” are Soyoun Chun, assistant professor of voice, soprano, and alumni Arthur W. Marks ’93, tenor, and Doyle Preheim ’63, bass.
The Bethel Oratorio Chorus is made up of members of the Bethel College Concert Choir, Men’s Ensemble and Women’s Chorus and the Newton Community Chorus.
Conductors are Bethel music faculty members William Eash (chorus) and Timothy Shade (orchestra).
The first part of the Masterworks program will be Parts I and II of “The Creation.” In the second half, Rachel Kasper Fitzsimons (whose stage name is Rachel de Benedet) and Marks will perform “selections from Broadway” -- “Nine,” “The Light in the Piazza” and “Sunday in the Park with George.”
John McCabe-Juhnke ’78, Bethel professor of communication arts, and Annette Thornton, director of music theater at Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, will perform one of the selections from “Sunday in the Park with George” in speaking roles.
Learn more about the Masterworks concert here.