Northwest Missouri State University’s Tower Choir will present a concert with the Platte County High School Concert Choir – both of whom have been selected to perform at the 2020 Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) In-Service Workshop and Conference – Tuesday, Nov. 19.

The concert, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts on the Northwest campus. The shared concert is part of the ongoing Northwest Guest Choral Ensembles Concert Series established in 2004 by Northwest Professor of Music Dr. Stephen Town, who also conducts the Tower Choir.

The Platte County High School Concert Choir’s program will include “Maggie and Millie and Molly and May” by Eric Whitacre, “Sehnsucht” by Johannes Brahms, “Quanta Qualia” with saxophone by Patrick Hawes, and “Fajar dan Senja II” by Ken Steven. The Tower Choir will sing selections by Z. Randall Stroope, Elaine Hagenberg, Daniel Elder and Ivor Antognini.

“The concert will surely delight anyone who enjoys the ineffable beauties of music, choral music specifically, and young singers who present arresting and thrilling music,” Town said. “Moreover, this is an opportunity to hear two ensembles selected to sing at the MMEA state conference.”

Under the direction of Brian von Glahn, the Platte County High School Concert Choir, is an audition-only ensemble comprised of students in grades 10-12. The ensemble of 84 students performs at concerts and community functions throughout the school year. It has received numerous superior ratings at the annual MSHSAA State Music Festival and previously performed at MMEA in 1989 and 2004.

A native of Cresskill, New Jersey, and a 2002 Northwest graduate, von Glahn is in his 18th year of teaching and has served Platte County High School since 2013. His ensembles have performed in numerous venues, including “Good Morning America,” Carnegie Hall, and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. He is the director of choral activities, co-director of the fall musical, Tri-M Chapter sponsor, Northwest Missouri Choral Directors Association (NWMCDA) All-State Choir coordinator, and the repertoire and resource chair for the Missouri Choral Directors Association (MCDA) Show Choir. He has received numerous recognitions, including Educator of the Year from the Cameron Chamber of Commerce in 2011 and Outstanding District Director for NWMCDA in 2015. His Platte County choirs have received consecutive exemplary ratings at the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Music Festival and multiple awards at various show choir competitions, including multiple grand championships. He is an active clinician, adjudicator and choreographer. In addition to MCDA, von Glahn is a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity.

Formed decades ago by Ralph E. Hartzell, the Northwest Tower Choir is an award-winning choral ensemble that is consistently invited to state conferences. In 2011, the Tower Choir presented an invited concert for the National Conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization in Fort Collins, Colo., and it appeared on the stage of Carnegie Hall in 2007. Since 1999-2000, the ensemble has performed more than 150 concerts for high schools, colleges, universities, churches, institutions and organizations in the states of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, as well as Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C. In addition, the ensemble has given 16 peer-reviewed or invited concerts for learned societies and regional and state conventions, meetings, and symposia.