Choral Groups’ Concert to Feature Music by Area Composer

The Concert Choir will be among the three groups who perform "From Story to Song:
Exploring the Creative Process."

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- The first days of November at Lindsey Wilson will usher in a concert that explores the process from story to song.

The Lindsey Wilson College Choral Ensembles will present "From Story to Song: Exploring the Creative Process" on Nov. 1-2. The concert will feature works by guest composer and conductor Matthew Hodge of Campbellsville, Ky.

The concert will be performed at 2:30 p.m. CT and 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 1, and at 7 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Nov. 2. All three performances -- which are free and open to the public -- will be given in the Norma & Glen Hodge Center for Discipleship.

The concert will feature the LWC Concert Choir, the Lindsey Wilson Singers and the LWC Men's Vocal Chamber Ensemble.

"We're using most of our ensembles in this performance so that we have the most student exposure possible for interaction Mr. Hodge," said LWC Associate Professor of Music and Religion and Director of Choral Programs Gerald Chafin.

This is the third composer project LWC's ensembles have undertaken under Chafin's direction.

"In the two projects prior to this one, we found the collaboration and interaction with a composer to be a fabulous experience for our vocal students," Chafin said. "All composers are passionate about sharing their compositions. The uniqueness of this project is that Mr. Hodge has been working with our ensembles from the beginning of the semester."

Audience members will hear the fruits of the semester-long labors, Chafin said.

"The results of this longer-term relationship will certainly be evident in the concert," he said. "This relationship has allowed our students to truly understand and experience the concert's subtitle - 'Exploring the Creative Process.' We have a renewed appreciation for how the composer writes in a particular style or why he crafts a certain chord progression."

The concert's title explores the processes Hodge used in taking stories of scripture, such as the creation story, and incorporated various compositional techniques to interpret the story musically.

"We're using most of our ensembles in this performance so that we have the most student exposure possible for interaction Mr. Hodge," Chafin said. "Therefore, these concerts feature the college's Concert Choir, the LWC Singers and the Men's Vocal Chamber Ensemble."

A faculty member at Campbellsville (Ky.) University, Hodge is an award-winning composer, pianist, and director who has been featured on national television, national radio and in national publications. He holds a bachelor's degree in composition and theory -- with a double emphasis in composition and piano -- and a master's degree in music.  

Hodge has ranked three times in international music competitions as a composer and a performer. His music has been performed live in three countries and nine U.S. states. Last March, Radio Disney produced a 30-minute live interview with Hodge as a "composer and role model for young people."

In the last four years, Hodge has produced nine CDs and two musical DVDs. He has had original music commissioned by independent films, politicians, colleges, public schools, churches and musical artists.

Hodge has composed, directed, and conducted two full-length musicals -- Just a Breeze to a Hurricane and Prodigal. Both musicals debuted at Campbellsville. Prodigal is the most successful production in the university's history.