The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Concert Choir, under the directon of Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, were featured performers at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on President’s Day in the nation’s official Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Choral Festival. Here is how Dr. Schwartzhoff recently expressed his feelings about the experience:
On February 16, 2009, it was my pleasure to conduct the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Choral Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, sponsored by Music Celebrations International. The festival chorus was a unique blend of seven choral ensembles including three high schools, two university ensembles and two community ensembles accompanied by the McLean Youth Orchestra from the Washington, DC area. The performance featured The Testament of Freedom by Randall Thompson and Words of Lincoln by Earlene Rentz. It was an honor to conduct this music festival honoring the President who was responsible for saving the union that we know today as the United States of America, as well as, to perform these works on the stage of a President that I have admired throughout out my life. This music festival created a unique community of vocal musicians representing high school age students to veterans of who have served our country with distinction. It was an honor to be involved in this event in our national capital honoring Abraham Lincoln, the Sixteenth President of The United States.
Gary Schwartzhoff, Director University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Concert Choir Eau Claire, Wisconsin