Spouses offer voice and piano performance in Feb. 10 Afternoon Sabbatical

GOSHEN, Ind. -- During a Feb. 10 Goshen College Afternoon Sabbatical, spouses Matthew Hill, associate professor of music, and Sandra Hill will perform selections ranging from Classical to Broadway.

The voice and piano performance, "Hills' Harmony," will be at 1 p.m.  in Sauder Concert Hall. The program is free and open to the public.

The Hills will also share of their teaching journey from the Wausau Conservatory in Wisconsin to the Goshen College community.

Matthew Hill, who teaches applied piano and other music department courses at Goshen College, holds a doctorate in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied with Howard Karp. Hill was also a student of the renowned Beethoven interpreter Claude Frank. He has previously been on the piano faculties at the Wausau Conservatory of Music (Wis.), the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County and at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan.

Matthew has performed with several university orchestras including a performance of Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Symphony and has also performed with the Central Wisconsin Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He has performed on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Live from the Elvehjem" and has also performed at the White House in Washington, D.C. as accompanist for the Wausau Conservatory "Choraliers" Children's Choir. In addition to other solo and collaborative performances, Matthew presents lectures at the Goshen College Piano Workshop, has been published in "Clavier," is a guest presenter for various music teacher associations and has been an invited presenter for the College Music Society and other professional organizations.

Sandra Hill, coloratura soprano, is a highly sought after voice teacher in the Goshen/Elkhart area and has been an adjunct voice instructor at Goshen College. She teaches at the Credo Choral Camp held on the Goshen College campus, and also taught at the Wausau Conservatory of Music. She is a graduate of the music program at the University of Texas-Austin holding a master's degree in vocal performance; she has also studied extensively with master voice teacher Herald Stark.

Sandra has performed on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Live from the Elvehjem" and has appeared in a variety of musical and operatic roles including Julie Jordan in "Carousel," Gretel in "Hansel and Gretel," Sister Mary Amnesia in "Nunsense," and as princess Zara with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Madison Sovoyards in a Wisconsin premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Utopia Limited." In 1997 she was chosen to participate in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Internship Program at Pennsylvania State University where she studied with master teacher Jean Westerman Gregg. Sandra also directed the Conservatory Choraliers, a children's choir which performed with a New York touring company in Green Bay, Wis., in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The Afternoon Sabbatical program is in its 25th season of offering a rich diversity of programs for the community. A committee composed of community representatives and college personnel look to the wealth of knowledge and talent that Goshen College affords and selects programs that will appeal to a wide variety of interests. Programs have an integral connection to the college -- either through subject matter or through presenter's affiliation with the college.

For more information on the Afternoon Sabbatical series call the Goshen College Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566 or e-mail joannp@goshen.edu.

Upcoming Afternoon Sabbatical lectures include:

March 16 -- "Music in My Life -- A Retrospect," with Mary Oyer, professor emerita of music, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall.

April 13 -- International Lunch -- Cuba, with Kathy Meyer Reimer, professor of education, and Paul Meyer Reimer, associate professor of physics, 12 p.m., Church Fellowship Hall. Cost: $15.

                 

May 11 -- Day trip to Sauder Village, Cost: $65.

Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values -- passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership -- prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, Kaplan's "Most Interesting Colleges" guide and U.S.News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.

Editors: For more information, contact Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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