MANSFIELD, PA—The 17th annual Young Men’s Choral Festival (YMCF), hosted by the Mansfield University student chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), will be held on Friday, October 28.
The YMCF gives young men in grades seven, eight and nine the chance to sing in a massed choir with peers who also enjoy singing, without feeling intimidated by outside influences. This year’s festival will feature a choir of over 130 young men from 18 area school districts, the Mansfield University Men’s Choir, now known as The
Steadmen, and special guest vocal band, Rockapella.
The YMCF concert will be held at 4 p.m. in Steadman Theatre. The Steadmen, under the direction of Peggy Dettwiler, will also perform. It is free and open to the public.
At 7:30 p.m. in Straughn Hall, Rockapella will present their own concert. It is also free and open to the public.
Since the early ’90’s when Rockapella first achieved national television fame on PBS’s Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?, the group has toured the globe and provided a funky powerful soundtrack to several generations of vocal music fans, while keeping it all fresh along the way.
With a long list of catchy original pop songs, and complete contemporary revisions of sparkling Motown, pop, and soul classics, this group has always been the one to watch.
To learn more about Rockapella, go to rockapella.com
This year’s guest conductor for the YMCF Choir is Robert Ward, director of Choral Activities at The Ohio State University. Ward conducts the Men’s Glee Club and the Symphonic Choir and teaches graduate courses in conducting and choral literature. Prior to his appointment at Ohio State, Ward was a member of the music faculty at Oklahoma State University for 16 years.
In 2001, Ward received the Director of Distinction Award by the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association and in 1997 he was presented with the Amoco Outstanding Faculty Award at Oklahoma State for outstanding undergraduate teaching. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University.
The YMCF is supported in part by student activity fees.