October 17th, 2019
MANKATO, MN. – The Minnesota State Mankato Invitational Choral Festival will be held Thursday, November 7, 2019 at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Church, 105 North Fifth Street, Mankato. The Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, under the direction of Dr. Aaron Humble, will perform along with a number of area high school choir students.
Choirs from Shakopee High School and Buffalo High School and individual choral students from the region have been invited to attend the festival for an entire weekday. The festival provides top-quality performing and listening experiences for the high school choir students.
During the festival day, the combined voices of the high school choirs along with the University Concert Choir create a large festival choir which works with Dr. Aaron Humble on two select pieces. The choirs will also individually work with University faculty on pieces that they have prepared for the day.
The festival concludes with a concert that will feature each individual choir, high school student soloists, the University Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and the festival massed choir.
After 10 years with the renowned vocal ensemble, Cantus, Dr. Aaron Humble is now in his third-year teaching at Minnesota State Mankato. Humble has enjoyed solo appearances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Columbus Philharmonic, the Mankato Symphony, and the Boston Pops and concert appearances at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Library of Congress, Wolf Trap, and The Chautauqua Institute. During his tenure with Cantus, Aaron sang nearly 1000 concerts and recorded 10 albums with one of the nation’s premier vocal ensembles. As an Artistic Co-Director of Cantus, Aaron was instrumental in programming concerts, creating recordings, and steering the artistic vision of Cantus for a decade. As a strong believer that choirs sound the best when they sing the best, Aaron is demand as a contest adjudicator and festival conductor throughout the upper Midwest and has presented regionally and nationally at ACDA, NATS, and Chorus America. Before joining the faculty at Minnesota State, Mankato, Aaron served on the faculty of Augustana College (IL) where he taught voice and conducted the Wennerberg TTBB Chorus.
Concert admission is $9 for general admission and $7 for K-12 students and children. University students are admitted free with a valid MavCARD. Advance purchase is strongly encouraged. Those who wish to purchase tickets online should go to http://link.mnsu.edu/musictickets.