Unidel Professor of Music Paul D. Head will celebrate 20 years at the University of Delaware with a special choral music concert featuring his students and mentors at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 5, in the Loudis Recital Hall of the Amy E. du Pont Music Building in Newark.

To celebrate his anniversary, Head decided to bring his own mentors to UD to conduct the 2017-18 UD Chorale Spring Concert, and they include some of the country’s preeminent, celebrated choral conductors and scholars:

• R. Daniel Earl, retired from Santa Rosa High School, where Head discovered his love of choral music;
• Charlene Archibeque, former director of choral activities at San Jose State University who directed the SJSU Choraliers to winning seven international competitions;
• Joseph Flummerfelt, who conducted the renowned Westminster Choir for 33 years; and
• Dennis Shrock, from the University of Oklahoma who is a prolific choral scholar and author, as well as a respected conductor.

This special May 5 concert has assigned seating. Tickets are $25 for adults; $20 for UD faculty, staff, alumni and seniors; and $15 for students. Ticket prices include the concert and reception following in the Puglisi Orchestra Hall at the Roselle Center for the Arts.  Advanced ticket sales are available online or through the REP box office, open from noon-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, telephone 302-831-.2204. At-the-door tickets, if available, are cash or check only.

About Paul Head

Head is director of choral studies and conducts the UD Chorale and Schola Cantorum ensembles. During his 20 years at UD, hundreds of his students, as well as the faculty, staff and community members of Schola, have heard him espouse the essential nature of choral singing. Anyone who has sung in one of Head’s choirs, or even attended one of his concerts, learns that exquisite choral singing requires more than skilled musicianship. The art of choral singing relies on the human connections made when singing and the community singers and audiences form together.

With this philosophy, Head has spent his time at UD elevating the choral program to one with national recognition for excellence and connections across the globe. The UD Chorale has appeared at numerous events for the American Choral Directors Association  and has placed in every international competition it has entered, including choral festivals in Estonia, Spain, Hungary, Germany and Greece, as well as acclaimed concert appearances in China, Malta and Israel.

Four years ago, Head established the Delaware Choral Academy Symposium in France, an opportunity for skilled choral scholars and conductors (from UD and other institutions, as well as young music professionals) to make music together in the south of France, an area that has inspired artists for generations and offers the exquisite acoustics of Old World churches and cathedrals. As the France Symposium continues to gain recognition, it helps solidify the UD Choral Studies program’s national prominence.

As the students in each class of “Chorale Kids” graduates, they take their experiences at Delaware out into the world as public school music teachers, professional performers, music technicians, composers and conductors, with credit to their mentors at UD.