MANSFIELD, PA – Twenty music majors from Mansfield University will provide backup vocals for multi-platinum, Tony, Grammy, and Emmy award-nominated recording artist Josh Groban at 7 p.m. on July 5, 2022, at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, NY, site of the 1969 Woodstock festival, as part of Groban’s Harmony tour, according to Director of Choral Activties Peggy Dettwiler.
“I received a phone call from Groban’s agent to request singers from Mansfield University. The singers will provide the vocals for the following selections: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Celebrate Me Home, For Granted, River, The Fullest, and You Raise Me Up, Groban’s signature song! The voicing is primarily for three-part Gospel style singing featuring sopranos, altos, and tenors,” said Dettwiler.
The singers slated to perform with Groban include sopranos Emma Criswell, Abigail Dalton, Madison Felpel, Alexandra Fisher, Natalie Holsey, Rachael Karwowski, Hanna Worthington. Altos include Jennifer Andrianos, Amos Kohne, Jael Niedermaier, Nicole Ann Orlando, Emily Sanker, Taylor Stevens, and Victoria Wormuth. Tenors/Basses include David Hull, Jeremiah Loubriel, Patrick Murphy, John Christopherson, Austin Brien, and Andrew Clark.
This is not the first time Mansfield singers have performed in some impressive venues or with well-known recording artists. Under Dettwiler’s leadership, Mansfield University’s choral ensembles have performed in premiere concert halls and venues across more than eighteen countries and produced more than twenty album recordings on the Mark Custom Recording Label. Various ensembles have performed several times at Carnegie Hall in New York City, including at the 2018 benefit concert presentation of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, alongside Paul Appleby, Erin Morley, Patricia Racette, William Burden, and John Lithgow.
Tickets to the concert are available at Ticketmaster or 800-653-8000.
The Josh Groban Harmony Tour will travel across the United States during Summer 2022, performing at some of the country’s most beautiful outdoor venues. Groban will visit more than 25 cities. Special guests joining him on this tour are the legendary New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band as well as violinist/singer Lucia Micarelli, and singer-songwriter Eleri Ward.
Peggy Dettwiler is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, where she conducts the Concert Choir, Festival Chorus, and Chamber Singers, and teaches choral conducting and methods. She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
Dr. Dettwiler is an in-demand clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator. In January of 2017, she served as Artistic Director for the concert, “Of War, Peace, and the Power of Music,” held in Carnegie Hall and sponsored by Performing Arts Educators. She is immediate-past President of the Eastern Division of the American Choral Directors Association.
