A Musical Offering

Trustee Frederick A. Reinhard may be the most loyal Greyhound of them all. A committed booster of Moravian athletics, he has generously supported its facilities improvements and underwritten the establishment of the varsity lacrosse program. Most recently, he invited the entire College to attend, on his dime, a performance by the Smothers Brothers at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe.

And in December, Blue Ridge Communications, a subsidiary of Pencor Services Inc. (Fred is executive vice president) of Palmerton, produced the statewide broadcast of the College’s traditional Christmas Vespers service.

A team from Blue Ridge video-taped the December 12 and 14 services, which were edited and merged for a one-hour broadcast that aired December 24 on the Pennsylvania Cable Network. It also was seen several times that week before Christmas on Blue Ridge Cable and Service Electric Cable.

Now our Vespers service is available on videotape and CD.

It’s an abridgement; the liturgy and Scripture readings are omitted. But it includes almost all the choral music from this year’s service, sung by the Moravian College Choir, the Women’s Chorus, and the congregation. Three pieces are accompanied by the Brass Quintet.

Paula Ring Zerkle, associate professor of music and director of choral activities, conducts, and Adam Koch is the organist. “Morning Star,” a Moravian hymn text set by Francis Florentine Hagen, who graduated from Moravian Theological Seminary in 1835, features treble Sarah Panik, daughter of Gary M. Panik ’78 and niece of Rose Panik, administrative assistant in the Music Department.

Those you’ll hear on the recording include Jessica Smith ’04, mezzo, Bethlehem, on “Rise Up,” a traditional spiritual arranged by Paula, and in “This Little Light of Mine” by the late Moses Hogan, a composer and arranger of contemporary spirituals. Jessica won the statewide “Campus Idol” competition last spring.

Seminary student Ruthann Seibert, soprano, sings in Daniel Pinkham’s “Gloria”; and Tom Mondschein, senior user support analyst with CIT, plays electric bass in “Salseo” by Oscar Galián.

The choir’s selections include works by American, African-American, Latvian, Venezuelan, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Russian composers, and are sung in Latvian, Japanese, and Russian, as well as Latin and English. Jennifer Creamer, director of international studies, wrote out the Japanese script for the song “Komoriuta” (“Lullaby”) by Hikaru Hayashi, which is reproduced in the insert for both videotape and CD.

Both formats are available in the Bookstore for $25 or two for $40. For students, the price is $15 or two for $25. Information: Ext. 1485.