Kevin Fenton, Conductor
Colby White and Harold Wright, Assistant Conductors
Victoria Coey and Dylan Rhodes, Piano “ The Poet Sings ”
Sunday, November 9, 2025
Three o’Clock in the Afternoon
Ruby Diamond Concert Hall
Livestream: wfsu.org/fsumusic
Luminescence (Blaire Ginsberg)
You May Choose Your Word (Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
Soloist: Isabelle Jocelyn
Three Nocturnes
Andra Ramsey (b. 1977)
Andrea Ramsey
Dan Forrest
Stars (Sara Teasdale) (b. 1978)
Lightly stepped a yellow star (Emily Dickinson) …Thou motive of the stars (Walt Whitman)
Soloist: Arden Ruby
Nick Bahr, Travis Beeton, Ethan Stefanski, and Tim Thomas, percussion
The Passing of the Year
Jonathan Dove Invocation (William Blake) (b. 1959) The narrow bud opens her beauties to the sun (William Blake) Answer July (Emily Dickinson)
Hot sun, cool fire (George Peele) Ah, Sun-flower! (William Blake)
Adieu! Farewell earth’s bliss (Thomas Nash) Ring out, wild bells (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
I Will Sing of Life (Arthur Grahm)
Soloist: Allyson Andaluz
Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Golden Sequence)
Holy, holy, holy! (Tobias Deggans and Allen Ginsberg)
Sing For Joy (Psalm 5:11)
Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941)
Marques Garrett (b. 1984)
Tobias Deggans (b. 2004)
B. E. Boykin (b. 1989)
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting while performers are playing. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Please turn off cell phones and all other electronic devices. Please refrain from putting feet on seats and seat backs. Children who become disruptive should be taken out of the performance hall so they do not disturb the musicians and other audience members.
Kevin Fenton, Professor of Choral Conducting and Ensembles and Director of the FSU University Singers and Men’s Glee (Collegians), has conducted the Virginia Tech Meistersingers (1998), the University Singers (2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2013), and the Festival Singers of Florida (2012 and 2018) in performances at regional and national conventions of ACDA and NAfME. He has served as a Fulbright Specialist to SubSaharan Africa, teaching choral conducting and conducting pedagogy at Kenya’s Conservatory of Music. In fall 2019, Kevin taught conducting at the Universitas Pelita Harapan in Jakarta, Indonesia. As co-founder of AVoice4Peace, Kevin has held AVoice4Peace events in Kenya, Indonesia, Ireland, China, and for the Florida and Southern Region ACDA conventions. Fenton has conducted choirs in 35 states, including twentynine all-state choirs. Internationally, Kevin was a featured conductor for the International Choral Festival and Conference in Xi’an (2017) and Beijing (2007), South Africa’s National Youth Choir (2016), and the Dublin International Choral Festival (2016). A champion of new music, Fenton has conducted more than thirty premiere performances.
Fenton has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in choral literature and choral conducting at Florida State University since 2000, and his textbook, Foundations of Choral Conducting, is being used in beginning conducting classes throughout the country. He is a recipient of the Florida State University Teaching Award for Excellence, the Gamma Mu Chapter of Delta Omicron Music Professor of the Year Award, and the Wayne Hugoboom Distinguished Florida Service Award. Fenton was Artistic Director of the Festival Singers of Florida, who recently celebrated their 12th season.
“The Poet Sings” is a celebration of the collaborative efforts of poet, composer and singer in the choral art. Represented in this afternoon’s concert is music of composers who have provided a rich curriculum of music and text for members of University Singers in the past 20 years.
We open the program with Andrea Ramsey’s “Luminescence,” which is a setting of a text written by Blaire Ginsburg who was inspired by the experience she had in her high school choir - “Sifting through silence finding reason, finding life. Breathe in silence, breathe in stillness, whistles low like wind chimes. Voices lush in tone.” University Singers premiered this piece at the American Choral Directors Association convention in 2013, and the music of Andrea Ramsey provides soulful/thoughtful settings for choirs of all levels and voices.
“You May Choose Your Word” is a setting of Ella Wheeler Wilcox poetry for piano and 8-part choir. Wilcox’s text reminds us of the impact of words, especially words that come from the heart.
In 2011 University Singers performed Dan Forrest’s In Paradisum with the University Wind Orchestra and in the years that followed University Singers performed several of his works. In 2012 we commissioned him to write for University Singers, and we performed “Long, Long Ago” at the 65-year anniversary of the choir. Forrest wrote Three Nocturnes for percussion and choir when he was living in Lawrence, Kansas, because he found himself “marveling at the night skies on the plains of Kansas.” He chose three texts describing stars and expressing the expansive wonder of the night sky. This was the first of many multi-movement works (Jubilate Deo; Requiem for the Living and The Breath of Life) that have become staples of the choral canon during the past 20 years. The final movement “…Thou motive of the stars” is a setting of a text by Walt Whitman, who is one of the most represented poets in the performances of University Singers during the past quarter of a century – The Poet of Body and Soul, Jubilate Song, and Beat! Beat! Drums! are but a few of the texts we have performed over the years; his texts seem to be a great fit for the youthful energy of our singers.
Jonathan Dove’s “Seek Him that Maketh the Seven Stars” and Missa Brevis fit University Singers tours perfectly, creating a wonderful response from audiences. The Passing of the Year allows us to examine the phases of the year through the text of five poets. Dove explores the possibilities of rhythm and harmony in a work for piano and double choir. We feature collaborate pianists Victoria Coey and Dylan Rhodes, each a student of professor Heidi Louise Williams, who has been a very important figure to University Singers, performing Lukas Foss’s Psalms with the choir, as well as the Brahms’ Liebesleider Walzer. We have been fortunate that several of the University Singers accompanist have come from Dr. Williams’s studio, and every collaboration with her and her students has elevated our collective voice.
Our last set is anchored in Adolphus Hailstork’s “I Will Sing of Life.” Over the years, members of University Singers have grown as performing musicians through Hailstork’s use of rhythm, text and articulation in dramatic settings of “Nocturne,” “Crucifixion,” and “Motherless Child.” The sacred texts from the final set of pieces are drawn from the bible and liturgical texts.
Over the years University Singers have performed many works and octavos composed by current and former members of University Singers. This evening, we perform current University Singers member Tobias Deggans’s “Holy, Holy, Holy” and former member Marques Garrett’s “Veni, Sancte Spiritus.” The concert concludes with the work of Atlanta-based composer Brittney Boykin, whose setting makes it easy for us to “Sing for Joy!”
University Singers Personnel
Kevin Fenton, Conductor
Colby White and Harold Wright, Assistant Conductors
Soprano 1
Amy Arredondo
Julia Chaves
Caitlin Gerding
Isabelle Jocelyn
Sophie Nagy
Arden Ruby
Emily Woo
Soprano 2
Allyson Andaluz
Taylor Livingston
Jennifer Perez-Aguilar
Sophonise Pierre
Daira Suster Sanchez
Rebecca Smith
Mogale Stewart
Alto 1
Kiley Berkery
Cassidy Clarke
Reese Cooper
Alyssa Jimenez
Lindsay Reese
Veronica Saavedra-Howell
Caroline Wheeler
Alto 2
Victoria Coey
Mia Cruz
Jacqueline Jenkins
Izzy Martinez
Gabriella Sierra
Tenor 1
Tobias Deggans
Caden Early
Zachary Magner
Alex Mortier
Jackson Roberts
Colby White
Tenor 2
Tyler Brown
William Coey
Connor Mickey
Gabriel Nair
Christian Reggi
Harold Wright
Baritone
Seaira Anderson
Victor Angel
Nathan Cohen
Jacob Da Costa
Jack Marshal
Benjamin Reid
Jeremiah Tracey Bass
Douglas Chaplow
Ferris Kritzer
Clement Lee-Sursin
Bryce Macon
Christian Noel
Dylan Rhodes
Dean’s Circle
Les and Ruth Ruggles Akers
Dr. Pamela T. Brannon
Richard Dusenbury and Kathi Jaschke
CarolAline Flaumenhaft
Joyce Andrews
Louie and Avon Doll
Patrick and Kathy Dunnigan
Kevin and Suzanne Fenton
Andrew and Karen Hoyt
Alexander and Dawn Jiménez
Jim Lee
Paula and Bill Smith
Margaret Van Every
Gold Circle
Albert and Darlene Oosterhof
Bob Parker
Todd and Kelin Queen
Karen and Francis C. Skilling
David and Jane Watson
Bret Whissel
Stan and Tenley Barnes
Kathryn M. Beggs
Karen Bradley
Steve and Pat Brock
Suzi and Scott Brock
Brian Causseaux and David Young
James Clendinen
Mary and Glenn Cole
Carol J. Cooper
Sandy and Jim Dafoe
F. Marshall Deterding and Dr. Kelley Lang
Diane and Jack Dowling
Aaron and Caroline Ellis
John S. and Linda H. Fleming
Joy and James Frank
William Fredrickson and Suzanne Rita Byrnes
Ruth Godfrey-Sigler
Michael and Marsha Hartline
Ken Hays
Melanie Hines and Dudley Witney
Dottie and Jon Hinkle
Todd S. Hinkle
The Jelks Family Foundation, Inc.
Emory and Dorothy Johnson
Gregory and Margo Jones
Anne van Meter and Howard Kessler
Dennis G. King, Esq.
William and Susan Leseman
Annelise Leysieffer
Linda and Bob Lovins
William and Gayle Manley
Robert and Patty McDonald
Marian and Walter Moore
Ann W. Parramore
Almena and Brooks Pettit
David and Joanne Rasmussen
Edward Reid
Mark and Carrie Renwick
Stephen and Elizabeth Richardson
Lawrence and Lisa Rubin
Patrick J. Sheehan
Dr. James and Ruth Anne Stevens
Richard Stevens and Ron Smith
Sustainer cont’d
Marshall and Nell Stranburg
William and Ma’Su Sweeney
Martin Kavka and Tip Tomberlin
Steve Moore Watkins and Karen Sue Brown
Stan Whaley and Brenda McCarthy
Kathy D. Wright
Mary S. Bert
Joe and Susan Berube
Marcia and Carl Bjerregaard
Greg and Karen Boebinger
Larry and Sara Bourdeau
David and Carol Brittain
Dean and Lyndsey Caulkins
Bonnie and Pete Chamlis
Malcolm A. Craig
Linda Davey
Rochelle Davis
Judith Flanigan
Bonnie Fowler, Armor Realty
L. Kathryn Funchess
Harvey and Judy Goldman
Jerry and Bobbi Hill
Sally and Dr. Link Jarrett
Judith H. Jolly
Arline Kern
Jonathan Klepper and Jimmy Cole
Elna Kuhlmann
Keith Ledford
Donna Legare
Joan Macmillan
Patrick Malone
Victoria Martinez
Stephen Mattingly
Ann and Don Morrow
Joel and Diana Padgett
Karalee Poschman
Mary Anne J. Price
Magda Sanchez
Jill Sandler
Paula S. Saunders
Jeanette Sickel
Susan Sokoll
George Sweat
Ed Valla
Scott and LaDonna Wagers
Sylvia B. Walford
Diana Wang
Geoffrey and Simone Watts
Natalie Zierden
Patricia C. Applegate
Sarah and John Bender
The Boyett Family
Judy and Brian Buckner
Kasia Bugaj and J. Renato Pinto
Robby Bukovic
Darren and Peyton Cassels
Marian Christ
Katie and Daniel Elliott
Sarah Eyerly
Cynthia Foster
Gene and Deborah Glotzbach
Sue Graham
Laura Gayle Green
Miriam Gurniak
Donna H. Heald
Carla Connors and Timothy Hoekman
Jane A. Hudson
Jayme and Tom Ice
Stephanie Iliff
William and DeLaura Jones
Jane Kazmer
Paige McKay Kubik
Joe Lama
Jane LeGette
Eric Lewis
Dr. Lynne Y. Lummel
Cindy Malaway
Lealand and Kathleen McCharen
Dr. Linda Miles
Drs. Linda O’Neil and Sebastian Alston
Becky Parsons
Michelle Peaceman
William and Rebecca Peterson
Adrian and Rachel Puente
Sanford A. Safron
Lori and Charles Smith
Sudarat Songsiridej and Mary Schaad
Susan Stephens
Allison Taylor
C. Richard and Phrieda L. Tuten
Steve Urse
Janie W. Weis
Karen Wensing
Willa Almlof
Florence Helen Ashby
Mrs. Reubin Askew
Tom and Cathy Bishop
Nancy Bivins
Ramona D. Bowman
André and Eleanor Connan
Russell and Janis Courson
J.W. Richard Davis
Ginny Densmore
Carole Fiore
Patricia J. Flowers
Hilda Hunter
Julio Jiménez
Kirby W. and Margaret-Ray Kemper
Patsy Kickliter
Anthony M. Komlyn
Fred Kreimer
Beverly Locke-Ewald
Cliff and Mary Madsen
Ralph and Sue Mancuso
Meredith and Elsa L. McKinney
Ermine M. Owenby
Mike and Judy Pate
Laura and Sam Rogers
Dr. Louis St. Petery
Sharon Stone
Donna C. Tharpe
Brig. Gen. and Mrs. William B. Webb
Rick and Joan West
John L. and Linda M. Williams
Sallie and Duby Ausley
Beethoven & Company
Ron Erichson/Beth Frederick
WFSU Public Broadcast Center
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