Choir culminates tour with Dr. Bray’s final home concert

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Thiel College Professor of Music Michael Bray, D.M.A., will conduct the Thiel Choir and the Thiel College Chamber Singers at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 19, in his last home concert before his retirement in May.

The home concert takes place in the David Johnson Memorial Chapel and is the culmination of the choir’s nine-day, 1,834-mile tour. The tour comprised seven performances in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. In their 64th concert season, they are singing selections from classical, folksong, psalmody, spiritual and modern genres.

The eight-part touring choir consists of 35 students from all academic fields, accompanied by Adjunct Professor of Music Kathryn Gray.

Bray is retiring at the end of the spring 2017 semester after nearly 21 years at Thiel College.

The Thiel College Choir

Since its founding in 1953 by Dr. Marlowe W. Johnson H’02, the Thiel Choir has enjoyed a long- standing reputation among college choirs in the United States. Through the years, the Thiel Choir has presented concerts in the midwestern, eastern and southern regions of the United States and Canada and has performed on nine European tours including most recently to Ireland.

About Dr. Bray

Bray joined Thiel College in 1996 as the Director of Choral Activities and became the sixth conductor in the history of the choir. In addition to overseeing the work of the Thiel Choir, the Thiel College Chamber Singers and the Thiel College Handbell Ringers, his classroom responsibilities include private instruction in voice, world music, music history and conducting.

Bray has held teaching positions in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Minnesota and Colorado, and church positions in Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania. A native of South Dakota, Bray holds a B.A. in music education from the University of Northern Colorado, and a M.M. and D.M.A. in choral conducting from the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he studied with Maurice Skones and Kenneth Jennings, prominent Lutheran choral conductors. He holds memberships in professional organizations including the American Choral Directors Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians.

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Related Stories

• 64th annual Christmas Festival marks 21st year for Conductor Michael Bray (November 23, 2016)
• Student recital and spring concert highlight musical events near end of semester (April 25, 2016)
• Choir concludes tour with performance at David Johnson Memorial Chapel (March 25, 2016)

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