Blog Posts - LUX

Congrats, Eby!

10/26/2018

Congratulations to soprano Eby Buscher, who passed her hearing yesterday for her senior recital! Her recital repertoire, includes pieces with her collaborators, Olivia Higgins (harp), Bridget Kennedy (mezzo-soprano), and Robby Napoli (tenor). After performing her recital pieces for her hearing, her panelists congratulated her in telling her she had passed! This now means that she can move on to creating posters for advertising, printing program notes, and finalizing the last logistical tasks for her recital. Stay tuned for an interview with Eby about her recital!

Senior Recital Interview: Robby Napoli

10/18/2018

Director Robby Napoli's senior recital is a mere ten days away, so we thought we'd ask him a few questions about it! Check it out below:

It’s finally senior year! How’re you feeling about that?
“Y’know, it’s really a mixed-bag of emotions, as I’m sure you could imagine. Lots of exciting moments, lots of lasts, and a lot of great memories are coming up this year, not to mention some great opportunities. I’m very sad to be leaving my friends at school, but I know we’ll still be around each other, so I’m not too concerned about that.”
Besides your recital, what are you most excited about this year?
“I’m incredibly excited about Lux’s upcoming concert at the end of the Fall semester in December. We get to sing on Music, Gettysburg’s Christmas Offering with Dr. Brent Talbot, who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know relatively well through my time at Gettysburg. Getting to collaborate with him and with the Gettysburg Children’s Choir, who I interned for last year, really brings things full-circle for me.”
What’s been your favorite experience studying music in college?
“I think just getting to nerd out about music with various friends and professors. I’ll never forget sitting in Dr. [Avner] Dorman’s office showing him a Purcell piece for choir -- I think we spent about 20 minutes just going crazy over how innovative it was for its time.”
Okay, so, recital time. Let’s start with the easy question. When and where is your recital?
“It’s on Sunday October 28, at 2:30pm in Paul Recital Hall at Gettysburg College!”
What’s your favorite piece on your recital?
“I think it’s a tie between I Hear an Army by Samuel Barber and Flight by Craig Carnelia. I Hear an Army is just this raw onslaught of emotion spurred on by World War II, so you can imagine the passion and conflict in that piece, and Flight is a completely different type of style. It’s a cabaret piece that I’m singing with one of my best friends, Rick Hale, about going out into the world and finding a new life, searching for change, no matter what it takes."
How has the recital process been for you? What did you have to do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all?
“It’s been pretty fun! The planning process actually started a bit less than a year ago. That was when I started planning repertoire, thinking about collaborators - all that kind of stuff. Then once I’d finalized my rep, I practiced and memorized mostly everything over the summer when I wasn’t working with Lux, and started writing my program notes. I continued finalizing those as I went through the semester and turned them in at my hearing, at which I performed the majority of my recital pieces for my panelists, who passed me, allowing me to plan my dress rehearsal, create a poster for the recital, and all of those final details and things.”
If there’s only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be?
“Honestly, I just want them to find something to enjoy. I love getting to share moments with my friends and family, and while solo singing definitely is not my favorite thing in the world to do, getting the opportunity to celebrate a milestone on the way to graduation with them a bit after the recital is very special.”

Robby's recital is on Sunday, October 28, at 2:30pm in Paul Recital Hall at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music.

Christmas Offering Concert

10/9/2018

Lux is very excited to announce that we will be a featured ensemble in Music, Gettysburg!'s Christmas Offering concert on Dec. 16 at 7pm! Music, Gettysburg! is a premier concert series featuring international, regional and local musical artists for the greater south central Pennsylvania region. Lux will perform some pieces alone, and some alongside the Gettysburg Children's Choir and High School Chorale and artistic director Dr. Brent Talbot, with whom soprano Eby Buscher is an intern, following Robby Napoli, who worked with Dr. Talbot and the children's choir just last year.

On the program, Lux will perform Paul Mealor's A Spotless Rose, which can be heard on our most recent album, and Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium, as well as performing Daniel Elder's Elegy with the High School Chorale. To round out the program, Lux will join the Gettysburg Children's Choir on two more pieces: Nos Galan by Frank Ferko, and a newly commissioned piece specifically for the occasion. Between the event, the repertoire, and the performers, this will surely prove to be an especially exciting collaboration!

The concert is free and open to the public, and will be held on December 16, 2018, at 7pm at the United Lutheran Seminary Chapel, at 147 Seminary Ridge, Gettysburg, PA. For more information, click the button below.

Senior Recital: Robby Napoli

10/5/2018

Director Robby Napoli passed his recital hearing this week, which means his senior recital is official! After a months-long process of preparing music, program notes, and planning, he performed with collaborators Dr. Scott Crowne, Jasmin Eddy, Rick Hale, and Aaron Thompson, in front of his judging panelists, who approved his recital. We are incredibly excited to announce that his recital, featuring just over 30 minutes of music ranging from Bach to Barber to Craig Carnelia, will be on Sunday, October 28, at 2:30 pm. Aside from his student-teaching, which he will do in the Spring, this is one of the large projects leading up to his graduation at the end of the academic year! The recital, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Paul Recital Hall, at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. For more information or to see the Facebook Event, click the button below!

Lux in the News!

9/26/2018

Our friends at Chorus Connection wrote a wonderful article about Lux, our origins, who we are, and the nuts and bolts of how we work as an ensemble! Tori Cook, their Director of Marketing, discovered Lux online and contacted our director, Robby Napoli, to interview him for an article, which you can read by pressing the button below! Many thanks to Tori and the rest of her colleagues at Chorus Connection!

Read the article

Congratulations, Anya!

9/19/2018

Congratulations are in order for alto Anya Trudeau, who in her first semester on campus, successfully auditioned for and was placed in University of Maryland's top choral ensemble, the UMD Chamber Singers, joining other Lux members John-Paul Teti and Collin Power. The UMD Chamber Singers have achieved international renown with acclaimed performances of the most challenging repertoire ranging from the 16th through the 21st centuries. In addition to regularly singing under founding director Edward Maclary, the Chamber Singers work with internationally renowned conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Helmuth Rilling, Rinaldo Alessandrini, and Iván Fischer. Congrats, Anya!

A World Premiere!

9/15/2018

Baritone Collin Power is very excited to be singing the role of Boaz in César Franck's oratorio, Ruth. On September 15, Collin will perform, along with some other fantastic musicians, at Glenelg Country School in Ellicott City, MD. Inspired by the themes and events of the biblical story, profits from this event will be donated to the International Rescue Committee to support their humanitarian efforts with refugees. In lieu of tickets there is a $15 suggested donation. For more information, click the button below!

New "Listen" Page

8/14/2018

We're very excited to announce that, as of Saturday, August 11, we have added a new "Listen" page to our website! Previously, under our "Media" heading, we had a page full of our YouTube videos for you to enjoy some of our video footage from concerts past. Now you can enjoy some samples of our studio recordings as well! Use the buttons below to visit our newly minted "Listen" & "Watch" pages.

Mozart's Requiem

8/11/2018

Congratulations to Amanda Densmoor who just has not stopped performing this summer! (You'd think she likes it or something...) Earlier today, Amanda performed as the soprano soloist in Mozart's Requiem at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Sykesville, MD! Enjoy some pictures from the event below.

Congrats, Amanda!

8/2/2018

Soprano Amanda Densmoor just recently finished her Summer Program in Oberaudorf, Germany as a Young Artist in the Musiktheater Bavaria program, with a focus on classical vocal music. While she was there, she participated in vocal coaching and workshops, dance and acting lessons, and German classes, not to mention performances all around the beautiful country of Germany. She studied with an impressive list of faculty, including opera singers featured at The Metropolitan Opera! Check out the slideshow below for some pictures of her time there. You might notice a few familiar faces - a friend of ours who sang with us just a year ago, Abigail Winston, also participated in the same program in the Musical Theatre division, and Amanda's sister, Nicole, got to fly across the pond and visit Amanda just last week!