The University of Lynchburg Choral Union will perform a concert of Civil War music as part of the official Appomattox Sesquicentennial Celebration. The concert, Songs of the Civil War, will be presented April 18 at 4 p.m. in Lynchburg’s Old City Cemetery, 401 Taylor Street, and April 19 at 4 p.m. in Appomattox High School Auditorium.
Dr. Jong H. Kim, professor of music and director of choral activities at University of Lynchburg, will conduct the concert, which will be accompanied by Rose M. Peak. The program will feature well-known and well-loved music from the home and war fronts as well as two original dramatizations by award-winning playwright Dawn Fields Wise. Civil War artifacts will be on display.
Free tickets are required and can be obtained by calling 434.544.8344.
The concert is partially supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The University of Lynchburg Choral Union is an auditioned College and community ensemble that performs choral masterworks featuring soloists rarely seen outside of major metropolitan areas. Works performed by the group include Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War and Theresa Mass, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Dr. Kim is the founding director of the Choral Union and initiated its annual Messiah concert. In addition to directing the LC Concert Choir, he teaches advanced music theory and voice as well as graduate conducting courses and serves as program director of the MA in Music Program.
A native of Seoul, Korea, Dr. Kim holds a doctor of musical arts in choral conducting from Michigan State University, a master of music in choral conducting from the Eastman School of Music, and a master of music and a bachelor of music in composition from Chung-Ang University in South Korea.
Ms. Wise is an award-winning screenwriter and playwright, most recently winning the 2014 Virginia Screenwriting Competition at the Virginia Film Festival and taking top honors in the Historical Screenplay category at the 2014 Nashville Film Festival with her screenplay, The Poem.
For the past seven years, she has been the founder, creative director, and playwright of Old City Cemetery Candlelight Tours in Lynchburg, Virginia. The Poem is based on a citizen buried in the Cemetery whose life was portrayed on the tours in 2010.
