Premiere of New Work by Bruce Trinkley
February 2, 2005
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA--Penn State Professor of Music Bruce Trinkley's "Christopher Robin Songs" will be given their world premiere by the PALS Children's Chorus of Boston as part of the chorus's 15th Anniversary Concert on Sunday, Feb. 13, in Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory of Music.
"Christopher Robin Songs," for treble voices and piano, are settings of poems by A. A. Milne, the British author and creator of Winnie the Pooh. Trinkley composed the musical settings during a sabbatical residency at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in California.
Considered one of the nation's premiere treble-voice ensembles, PALS Children's Chorus is based in Brookline, Mass. This after-school performing arts program trains typical children from one school community, transforming individuals into an ensemble of the highest caliber. Founded in 1990, PALS currently brings together 130 children ages 7 through 14 in three choral ensembles, and provides additional performing opportunities for high school students. PALS Children's Chorus is frequently heard in collaborations with distinguished adult performing groups, as well as in concerts of their own, presenting a diverse repertoire of classical, traditional and popular music. Committed to the presentation of contemporary music, PALS has premiered over a dozen new works, and continues to commission serious new music for treble voices.
Trinkley's opera for young people, The Prairie Dog That Met the President, with text by Jason Charnesky, instructor in English at Penn State, will be presented by the Penn State Opera Theatre on March 23, 2005, in Eisenhower Auditorium.
Trinkley, director of the Penn State Glee Club, will be retiring in August after a 35-year teaching career at Penn State. He will continue to compose operas and works for solo voice and chorus.
Contact: Amy Milgrub Marshall, alm157@psu.edu or 814.863.2104