The Baker University Department of Music and Theatre has plenty in store for this fall, from a two-person play about President Nixon to the annual Christmas Candlelight Vespers and the addition of a drumline.

Choir

Opening the Baker choirs’ busy fall schedule is a Choir Music Learning Day on Oct. 7, when the choirs will host 200 high school students. Director of Choral Activities Cathy Crispino will direct the students as they are preparing for upcoming KMEA State Choir auditions, and the Baker choir students will perform for them then take them on tours around campus.

On Oct. 21, the Fall Choral Concert will feature all Baker choirs – Concert Choir, Chamber Singers and Community Choir – and will be themed Ad Astra Per Aspera<em>Ad Astra Per Aspera</em>, the Kansas state motto., the Kansas state motto. Ad Astra Per Aspera, the Kansas state motto.

“The fall concert will close with all choirs singing Don’t Be Afraid,” Crispino said, “which tells the listener to ‘shine all your light,’ an appropriate image after thinking about starlight throughout the program. We have an opportunity to lift the darkness for others, as our own troubles are eased through the sharing of song. We need that in our lives.”

Later in October, the Concert Choir will travel to three Topeka schools and Holton High School for exchange concerts. A few days after that, the Concert Choir will perform at a Topeka Countryside United Methodist Church service.

Wrapping up the semester all three choirs will join the Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble to host the annual Christmas Candlelight Vespers. Also appearing in the concert is Baker alumna Sara Wentz and her Celebration Ringers, a handbell choir, from Lawrence First United Methodist Church.

Theater

The first theater production of the fall is titled Nixon’s Nixon, a dark comedy about the meeting between Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon on the eve of Nixon’s resignation. The play opens on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m. and runs through Sunday with a 2 p.m. matinee in Rice Auditorium.

“It’s a two-man show that reveals Nixon’s deep paranoia. It is both a blissfully funny and sometimes cruel look at two very powerful historic figures,” Associate Professor of Theatre Tom Heiman said.

The second play of the semester is titled The Journey of Everyman and is a classic medieval morality play following Everyman. According to Heiman, this production will offer a “very contemporary twist” to the original work. The Journey of Everyman will open on Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Rice Auditorium.

Orchestra

The Baker University Orchestra is scheduled to perform its fall concert on Nov. 15 featuring the works of Beethoven, Faure and Schubert. The concert will also include a guest cello soloist, Ed Laut. Some of the works set to be performed require a larger orchestra than Baker currently has, so the addition of a few added wind and brass players may be needed to balance out the large string section.

Drumline

The newest addition to the course offerings in the Department of Music and Theatre is its brand new drumline led by Instructor of Music Andrew Foerschler, who is a member of the Kansas City Chiefs Rumble Drumline.

“It’s open to anyone who can read music, even non-drummers,” Foerschler said. “The drumline plays at every Baker home football game and many other campus and recruiting events. We have six students in the line this fall, and we have a lot of space to grow, so I look forward to seeing how it will look in the coming semesters.”

Band

Director of Bands Frank Perez is in charge of both the Symphonic Band and the Jazz Band this year and is looking forward to their joint concert on Oct. 10 in Rice Auditorium, which is the first concert of the year for both bands. The concert will feature Derek Crow as a guest tuba soloist.

The Annual Marching Band Festival will take place a few days before the BU Marching Band will perform in the annual Maple Leaf Festival Parade, as they do every year.

Perez is also excited about the fact that the bands have had an increase in enrollment.

“I am very excited about our recruiting,” he said. “We have 21 new students, a very talented group of incoming freshmen. Rehearsals have gone really well, and they are working really fast.”

The Jazz Band will host its Annual Guest Artist Jazz Concert featuring Mike Mixtacki, a tuba player and instructor of percussion at Indiana University. The annual Jazz Festival will commence the following day.