Last modified: Friday, September 24, 2010
IU Singing Hoosiers pays tribute to Hoagy Carmichael
Editors: Please note that times and dates for these events differ from earlier publicity. General seating, limited to the capacity of the hall, is available for both concerts.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 24, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- One of America's most popular show choirs will pay tribute to one of the nation's most popular composers in a free concert Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. and repeated at 8:30 p.m. in Auer Hall at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
The IU Singing Hoosiers, directed for 15 years by Jacobs Professor Michael Schwartzkopf, will take the audience on a musical journey through the life of one of Bloomington's favorite sons in "Hoagy Carmichael and Friends." The concerts take place on a weekend during which the program will be recorded as part of a preservation project.
The hourlong program will feature many of Carmichael's hits, including "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," "Ole Buttermilk Sky" and "Stardust," as well as some lesser known songs like "Winter Moon" and "I Walk With Music." All of these Singing Hoosiers renditions were arranged by the late Al Cobine.
"Since the early 1960s, there has rarely been a Singing Hoosier concert without at least one song by Hoagy Carmichael," said Schwartzkopf. "With this concert, we are starting a project of recording Hoagy's music with most of the arrangements by the late Al Cobine, a very popular composer, arranger and band leader from Bloomington. Through this concert and recording, we are hoping to keep Hoagy's music alive."
Born in Bloomington on South Grant Street on Nov. 22, 1899, Carmichael composed many songs in a wide variety of styles and had a successful career in movies. Often described as nostalgic in tone, many of his songs unfold in a landscape of small U.S. towns and countryside scenes and draw some of their emotional power from the attachments that Americans have held for the country's agrarian past.
Founded in 1950 and averaging 115 members, the Singing Hoosiers features collegiate performers from the world-renowned Jacobs School of Music as well as IU students with a variety of other majors. The group performs American popular music, jazz and Broadway favorites with captivating choreography, energy and style.
The Hoosiers perform several concerts on the campus of IU Bloomington annually, including the Chimes of Christmas, which, this year, will be Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the IU Auditorium. In addition to singing in opera and oratorio productions of the Jacobs School and at Big Ten basketball games, the choir has performed in several concerts with major symphony orchestras, including the Indianapolis Pops and the Cincinnati Pops under the direction of the late Erich Kunzel.
To learn more about the IU Jacobs School of Music, visit https://music.indiana.edu.
