Contact: Sasha Steinberg
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University’s State Singers and the Starkville High School Choir are among groups commemorating Easter Sunday [April 21] with a 1 p.m. performance at one of the world’s most prestigious music venues.
Gary Packwood, MSU director of choral activities who made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut on Easter Sunday in 2012, said he is excited to lead a large chorus in Joseph Haydn’s masterpiece, “Missa in Angustiis” (Mass in Time of War). In addition to MSU and SHS students, the chorus will feature ensembles from Kutztown, Pennsylvania; Brooklyn, New York; and Pensacola, Florida. Packwood, an associate professor in MSU’s Department of Music, also will conduct the New England Symphonic Ensemble and four soloists.
“The Mississippi State University Singers are looking forward to returning to Carnegie Hall in 2019,” Packwood said. “We had a wonderful experience seven years ago, and this time we get to make music with some very special high school choirs.”
The SHS Choir is directed by Jennifer Davis, who said her students are “thrilled to be a part of this special performance.”
“It is a unique honor to represent Starkville in New York City under the baton of Dr. Gary Packwood,” Davis said.
One of six grand masses composed toward the end of Haydn’s life, “Missa in Augustiis” acquired the nickname “Lord Nelson Mass” because of British war hero Horatio Nelson’s victory over Napoleon, a conquest which occurred around the time the work premiered in 1798. With its dramatic use of trumpets and drums, the majestic work concludes with an impassioned cry for the achievement of everlasting peace.
The MSU State Singers is a select ensemble of undergraduate students representing a variety of academic disciplines. In addition to state and regional appearances for the American Choral Directors Association and at The White House, the group has performed in such countries as Spain, the Czech Republic, Austria and France. For more, visit www.statesings.com.
Part of MSU’s College of Education, the nationally accredited Department of Music is online at www.music.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.