A two-part concert capped off a full day of activities for the second annual Emporia State University She Sings: A Women in Music Festival Saturday evening.
The concert was split between the Heath Recital Hall in Beach Music Hall and the Bruder Theater in King Hall, featuring performances by pia ist Anna Petrova and, later, Emporia State’s choral students who, among other selections, performed a piece created by three-time Grammy-nominated artist Shara Nova.
As mentioned, the evening’s concerts culminated the day-long festival that included a series of workshops and master classes highlighting a variety of musical disciplines in the early morning and afternoon hours. During the day, KVOE News met with one of the event’s organizers and ESU Choral Director Josh Donaldson who says that while the festival’s concept is one embraced across the nation, it is a one-of-a-kind in the state of Kansas, and in neighboring states, to his knowledge, which played a role in its creation last year.
In addition to the workshops and evening performance, Donaldson says the festival provides many other benefits to students who attend, including organizational experience, noting that all activities are essentially student-run.
He also says the event and the list of talented performers on hand provide an important networking opportunity to help prepare their students for careers after graduation.
The festival was completely free to all students and schools as well as university faculty.
