By Wayne Laepple
There’s an old joke, in which an out-of-towner asks a New Yorker, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”
To which he replies, “Practice, practice, practice.”
All that practice pays off next Friday for the Susquehanna University Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra, which will take the stage at Carnegie Hall to help the university kick off its sesquicentennial celebration in style. They will be joined on the stage by a cohort of 100 SU alumni.
Brett Hosterman, a 2006 Susquehanna graduate and director of instrumental music at Milton High School, is one of those alumni.
“I’m very excited,” said Mr. Hosterman during an interview in his office at the school. “I can’t imagine anything to top this.”
Mr. Hosterman said alumni chorus members received the music in the mail several weeks ago and have been expected to review and rehearse the music on their own. During the last week of February and the first week of March, leading up to the March 7 performance, alumni singers may join the university singers in rehearsals on campus if they are able. Two mandatory rehearsals are set, one at the university on March 6 and the other a dress rehearsal on the stage at Carnegie Hall the afternoon of the performance.
Cyril Stretansky will conduct the chorus and Jennifer Sacher-Wiley will conduct the university orchestra during the performance.
“Music is a vibrant thread woven through Susquehanna University’s history, so this is a fitting inaugural event for our sesquicentennial,” said L. Jay Lemons, president of the university, who will address the audience at Carnegie before the concert.
According to Jane Daly Seaberg, associate director of communications at Susquehanna, arranging the Carnegie event was an involved process.
“The Carnegie has certain standards, and they have been giving us their full attention,” she said. The management of the hall required the university to be licensed for the event, and lengthy negotiations took place before an agreement was reached.
Ms. Seaberg said an anonymous donor has underwitten the event, making it affordable for the university.
“That says volumes about the loyalty of the SU community,” she said.
Ms. Seaberg said the cost of the Carnegie Hall performance was slightly under $50,000.
Valerie Martin, dean of the school of arts, humanities and communications at Susquehanna, negotiated arrangements with Carnegie Hall.
“The process began with a phone call last April,” she related. “There was lots of paperwork and lots of questions. They wanted every detail of programming the event.”
Carnegie Hall actually has three stages, she said, and Susquehanna’s event next week is one of about 700 programs at the venerable hall annually.
It will be standing room only, with every one of the 2,900 seats in the Stern Auditorium, the main performance hall, filled.
Ten buses will leave the SU campus on Friday morning. Five will transport the performers, while the others are for alumni and friends who want to share the experience. The chorus will rehearse on Friday afternoon and a reception for the performers will follow the performance at a nearby hotel.
In addition, a bus will travel to New York City from the Lehigh Valley and another from the Scranton area is expected. Others are travelling to New York by van or car.
“Just being there and experiencing the venue, standing where so many famed artists have stood, will be a great thrill,” said Mr. Hosterman. “Did you know that Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance in Carnegie Hall?”
Mr. Hosterman said several members of his graduating class are among the 100 alumni selected to join the university chorus for the premiere performance of “Rain, River, Sea,” by Patrick Long, associate professor of music at SU. Several other choral works will be performed as well. Over 200 alumni applied to perform, but only 100 could be included.
“It’s a nice mix of recent and not-so-recent graduates,” he remarked.
Northumberland County Judge William H. Wiest, who was also selected to sing, said he is looking forward to the trip to New York.
“I’m very, very excited,” he said. “I was very pleased to be selected to take part.”
Mr. Wiest said his wife and some friends are also going to New York for the performance, and Mr. Hosterman said his parents will be in the audience as well.
“They’re thrilled,” Mr. Hosterman said.
