The UVA Department of Music presents The University Singers directed by Michael Slon on Friday, November 12th at 8pm in Old Cabell Hall. The concert will celebrate and commemorate Women at UVA and 50 years of Co-education. The University Singers is the University of Virginia’s flagship choral ensemble, performing a cappella and accompanied choral literature including major works with orchestra. Founded in 1957, the group became a primarily student ensemble soon after UVA began admitting women in 1970, and celebrated their 60th anniversary with the 2017-2018 season. Students in the University Singers come from UVA's eight undergraduate schools, including Arts and Sciences, Education, Batten, Commerce, Nursing, and Engineering, as well as several of the graduate and professional schools. While approximately 25-30% are music majors, the ensemble is open to any student by audition, and is a for-credit curricular class. Together, members enjoy an esprit de corps that arises from the pursuit of musical excellence, and the camaraderie the singers develop offstage. The University Singers is led by faculty conductor Michael Slon. Active as a conductor of choral, orchestral, and operatic repertoire, Michael Slon is Director of Choral Music and associate professor at the University of Virginia, where he leads the University Singers, UVA Chamber Singers and also guest conducts the Charlottesville Symphony. Having led the Singers and Symphony in a gala performance in front of 20,000 for UVA’s 2017 Bicentennial Launch Celebration (which included Copland’s Appalachian Spring with the Martha Graham Dance Company, and a feature on regional PBS), he and the Singers presented the regional premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass at UVA in fall 2018. His ensembles have recently sung for composer Philip Glass and the creators of Les Misérables (Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg), taken a two-week European concert tour, and created videos receiving nearly half a million views on UVA’s platforms. Since 2011, he has also served as Music Director of the Oratorio Society of Virginia. In that time, he has created a series of new artistic partnerships with the chorus, including a 2014 semi-staged production of Bernstein’s Candide with Ash Lawn (now Charlottesville) Opera, performances with regional orchestras and youth choruses, an Adolphus Hailstork-Rita Dove commission for the group’s 50th anniversary, and a Community Sing-In to benefit local charities. Recent repertoire with the UVA and Oratorio choruses has also included Bach’s St. John Passion and Magnificat, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, Verdi’s Requiem and La Traviata, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, and a range of shorter a cappella and accompanied works. Tickets are available at the UVA Arts Box Office in the Culbreth building, online at https://artsboxoffice.virginia.edu/ or by calling (434) 924-3376. Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda (map). Parking is available in the Central Grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Road, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner. For more info visit: www.music.virginia.edu/usingers or www.music.virginia.edu To make a gift visit: https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/21729/donations/new or contact the group at university-singers@virginia.edu. Please call the Music Department at 434.924.3052 for more information. All events are subject to change