Festival culminates in performances today, Sunday

Western Washington University’s College of Fine and Performing Arts and the Bellingham Festival of Music have been playing host to their Choral Arts Symposium since July 13. The symposium ends with performances of "A Summer Night of Love in Vienna" on Friday, July 19, and "The Three Sopranos" on Sunday, July 21.

Sunday's finale includes performances from Western alumna Heidi Grant-Murphy, one of the world's most noted sopranos. In 2011, she was appointed to the faculty of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music as an adjunct professor of practice. She has been a featured guest on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts and BBC Radio 3. Western's Window Magazine featured her in a recent issue.

Symposium participants have joined colleagues, conductors, students and observers from the U.S. and Canada in a nine-day intense study and performance featuring Verdi’s “Te Deum” with orchestra and “A Summer Night of Love in Old Vienna,” an overview of choral music of Schubert and Brahms with piano.

The Choral Arts Symposium is instructed by Maestro Vance George and Maestro Michael Palmer, both mentored by Robert Shaw. Vance George is the chorus director emeritus of the San Francisco Symphony and is recognized internationally as one of today's preeminent choral conductors. Maestro Palmer, considered one of this country’s finest conductors, celebrates his 20th season with the Bellingham Festival of Music.

The symposium's goal is to help participants develop rehearsal and performance conducting techniques as well as enhance rehearsal techniques. Participants are immersed in the score study, analysis and performance. Each afternoon participants conduct or observe, and evenings are spent in rehearsal or attending the many offerings of the festival.

The two performances this weekend are the culmination of the symposium.