Explore April 23rd’s Chorus and Brass at the Grand Halle
Flip through the program, learn about the conductor, read insights on the music, and listen to clips!
Flip through the program!
What to expect!
Meet Johnstown Symphony Chorus Director Jeffrey L. Webb
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Jeffrey L. Webb was appointed conductor of the Johnstown Symphony Chorus in 2018.
During that time, Mr. Webb has prepared the chorus for performances of Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” and William Grant Still’s Plain Chant for America. Since 2001, Mr. Webb has been Associate Professor of Music/Director of Choral Activities and head of the music department at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.
At the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Mr. Webb has taught courses in Music Theory, Western Art Music, Critical Listening, Jazz and Popular Music, and conducts the Pitt-Johnstown Choral Ensembles. In addition to his work at Pitt-Johnstown, Mr. Webb served as the Artistic Director of the Blair Concert Chorale from 2004-2013. Under his baton, the Blair Concert Chorale performed such works as Faure’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Schubert’s Mass in G. During his time at the helm of the group, the Blair Concert Chorale was also invited to perform at the 2006 Pennsylvania Music Educators Summer Conference.
Mr. Webb has also done extensive work in musical theatre, having starred in, musical directed and served as accompanist for a variety of shows such as Sweeney Todd, Chess, Ain’t Misbehavin, Little Shop of Horrors, Once On This Island and Godspell. Active as a guest conductor and vocal clinician, Mr. Webb has worked with singers and conducted festival choirs in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and New Zealand. His research on vocal health in the choral rehearsal has been published in Music Educators Journal and presented for both the Pennsylvania and Virginia Music Educators Associations. In 2016, his research and creation of new editions for William Grant Still’s Three Rhythmic Spirituals led to publications in The Choral Journal and with William Grant Still Music.
Mr. Webb holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Allegheny College and a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Binghamton University. Mr. Webb is also active as a vocal soloist, accompanist and musical director while acting as the front man for the band Jeff Webb and the Delectable Sound. Mr. Webb is scheduled to make his Carnegie Hall conducting debut in June of 2023 in a performance of Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore.
Johnstown Symphony Chorus
Joseph Satava, Pianist
Soprano 1 Alto 1 Tenor 1 Bass 1
Jean Arcurio Gail Berkebile Dominik Barnyak Steve Fetcko
Deborah Chuba Karen Bilchak Jim Carthew Ryan Fry
Elisa Ellenberger Becky Catelinet Josh Rinaman David Graham
Christina Flower Kimberly Felan Gerald Griffith
Valerie Galczynski Ann Marie Furman Frank Illar
Amber Gobbel Lois Graham Travis Najjar
Bridgot Hernan Saundra Gramling Doyle Yernaux
Roberta Holtzman Barb Heider
Kerri Hostetler Lynne Hood
Lahne Macey Jennifer Kessler
Bonnie Riga Annie Parlock
Jessica Satava Susan Pearce
Karen Soliday Diane Saylor
Rosemary Zenone Monica Shedlock
Dorothy Smedberg
Laura Trusik
Pamela Vranich
Jennifer Yoder
Soprano 2 Alto 2 Tenor 2 Bass 2
Marie Barr Maryann Ackmann Earl Cooper John Lopresti
Laurie Bender Mallory Bean Raymond Gaydos Roland Maust
Dee Crownover Darlene Fox William Hargreaves Jonathan Rutledge
Amelia Derr Aurelia Gibson Philip Parlock, II James Stewart
Andrea Falchek Kathy Gorzelsky Larry Pearce Bill Wilkinson
Annette Fisanick Emma Martz
Lindsay Fox Manisha Nigam
Annette Goetsch Marcy Olek
Anita Lorek Dana Ramirez
Emily Roy Keathe Steigert
Beth Ann Todd Kiersten Szczur
June Whalen-Gonzalez Andrea Vargo
Johnstown Symphony Brass
Matthew Barabas, Trumpet
Larry Burroughs, Trumpet
Dennis Emert, French Horn
Dana Menser, Trombone
Lawrence Dine, Tuba
Notes on selected works
Composer’s Note on A Prayer of David
I was asked by Bill Riggs to compose a choral piece, SATB, a cappella, set to Psalm 86. Over the course of several weeks, we corresponded regularly about the text, the translation, and which specific verses he wanted me to set to music.
Tragically, he passed away just months after he commissioned the piece. I discarded the piece I had been composing, and started again, this time reflecting on his life and with the hope of providing some solace and comfort to his wife Mary Ann.
The piece is dedicated to Mary Ann Riggs, and is in celebration of Bill Riggs, who was a devoted husband and father, a wonderful choral singer, and a pillar of his community.
–James Blachly
Notes on Antiphon by Ralph Vaughan Williams
“Let All the World in Every Corner Sing,” is Vaughan Williams’ triumphant setting of the words of George Herbert’s 17th-century text, and forms the final work of his Five Mystical Songs.
As Alan Weltzein writes, “the word ‘antiphon’ bears primarily an acoustic, choral meaning, as Herbert editors such a F. E. Hutchinson have recognized. Antiphon alternates between familiar and new, the short, exultant "Chorus" and longer "Verses." In the Herbert poem, the acoustic alternation is visual, the only poem in the song cycle assuming this familiar musical pattern, and consequently it begs for musical realization.
Five Mystical Songs begins and ends with "heart," and in the second "Verse" of Antiphon, the heart–the self, the singing voice–bears primary responsibility in owning one's relation to God. "The church with psalms must shout" and the self "Must bear the longest part": thus does the poet, through the composer's arrangement, describe the bond out of which issues infinite harmony. Thus, communal praise grows out of private praise.
Vaughan Williams, taking up the first poem's command, "Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song, “follows Herbert's example, and their unworldly collaboration renders audible these poems' intensely imagined but unheard music. Temples, after all, want sound, and Vaughan Williams' musical offering fills the choir stalls of Herbert's holy edifice.”