Stanley L. Roberts is in his twenty-second year of teaching in the Townsend School of Music of Mercer University, where he is the Arthur Lowndes Rich Professor of Choral Conducting. Choirs under his direction have sung on numerous programs for GMEA, and the Southern Division of ADCA and NAFME (MENC). With the Mercer Singers, he has experienced six highly successful international tours (England, Wales, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Japan and Russia). Widely regarded as a conductor & clinician, he has conducted All-State Choirs, Honor Choirs, and Festival Choruses throughout the United States, England, and Europe, as well as workshops in universities, colleges, churches, and schools.

The Mercer Singers, an ensemble of 48 voices, is the primary touring choral ensemble of Mercer University. The choir includes undergraduate & graduate students and performs a wide range of choral music spanning from the Renaissance to works written by composers of our time. The Mercer Singers have sung on programs for the GMEA, the Southern Division of MENC, and the Southern Division of American Choral Directors Association. The Mercer Singers tour extensively and have performed throughout the United States and Europe. The choir is widely acclaimed for its spirited performances, breadth of repertoire, and dedication to singing repertoire of the a cappella idiom.

Tyler Urich grew up in Garner, IA and graduated from Garner-Hayfield High School in 2003. Mr. Urich earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Wartburg College in 2007. While at Wartburg, he had the opportunity to perform in some of the most famous opera houses and cathedrals in the world, including Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, Chicago; Prague, Czech Republic, Eisenach, Germany; and St. George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, South Africa. In May of 2014, he was awarded the Professional Educators of Iowa Teacher of the Year award. He is currently in his tenth year of teaching. 

The Chariton High School Vocal Music department, under the direction of Mr. Tyler Urich, consists of two choirs and totals 105 students.  The Mixed Choir has 60 members and is open to all students.  The Concert Choir is Chariton High School’s premier vocal ensemble and consists of 45 members that must audition each May. All vocal music students also have the opportunity to audition for the annual musical and other small groups for the Iowa High School Music Association, including Solo/Ensemble Contest and All State.                
                
        

 Jacki Scott, MA – Founding Director of the Citrus Community Concert Choir:  Mrs. Scott hails from upstate New York and has studied music in New York, Texas, Kansas and Germany.  She is an accomplished pianist and organist and is presently the Director of Music at Faith Lutheran Church in Lecanto, FL.  Besides leading CCCC, she teaches private piano, vocal, drama and organ and is very involved with community theater, both with musicals and straight plays, often serving as Musical Director, Director, actor, and various other roles within the theater, with over 45 shows under her belt.  She is happy and humbled to be a participant in the choir today at Carnegie Hall.

The Citrus Community Concert Choir is now in it’s 14th season, after being founded by Jacki Scott in 2003 in Citrus County, FL and performing their first concert in December of that year with only 22 singers.  The choir has grown by leaps and bounds, more than doubling it’s size, and taken on many difficult works through the years.  They are a not-for-profit 501c(3) organization and their goal is to provide scholarship funding to local students that want to pursue music in some way at the college level.  Just last summer, the choir awarded 00 in scholarships.  Their pursuit of providing good music to the area has expanded several times, becoming part of a Festival Chorus at the International Haydn Festival of 2009 in Vienna, Austria, again at 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and singing on board the USS Missouri on the 4th of July, 2011 in Pearl Harbor, and singing in Paris and Normandy during the 70th anniversary of D Day in France in 2014.  The members of the choir and their director are proud to be participants in the choir singing today at Carnegie Hall in NYC.

Violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti has a musical career of broad versatility that spans nearly two decades. Recent projects include the international premiere of GRAMMY® winner Matt Catingub’s concerto “Three Shades of Blue” in Kobe, Japan, the recording of Schubert and Sibelius quartets in England, and performances of the complete cycle of Beethoven String Quartets in Seoul, Korea, as a member of the Ehnes Quartet. Her Prokofiev and Bartók duos with James Ehnes were included in Juno Award recordings in 2014 and 2015. Director of the McDuffie Center for Strings since its inception, Ms. Moretti has developed the Fabian Concert Series on the Mercer University campus and holds the Caroline Paul King Chair in Strings. Former Concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony and Florida Orchestra, she has served as guest concertmaster for the symphony orchestras of Pittsburgh and Atlanta; the New York Pops and Hawaii Pops; and the festival orchestras of Brevard, Colorado and Grand Teton. Her dedication to collaboration and performance complements her directorship and inspires her teaching and coaching of the Center’s gifted young musicians. Through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society of Chicago, she plays the 1744 G.B. Guadagnini violin known as the “Canadian," and gratefully acknowledges its extended loan. 

The McDuffie Center String Ensemble, comprised of Townsend School of Music majors from Mercer University, features the 24 full-scholarship students of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings. These musicians, hailing from 11 states and 4 countries, learn from and often perform side-by-side with their faculty mentors who play with some of the country’s top orchestras and world-class ensembles. Distinguished faculty serving as principals for today’s concert are: Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin; Annie Fullard, violin; Rebecca Albers, viola; Julie Albers, cello; Daniel Tosky, bass. The MCS ensemble is the core of the Mercer University Orchestra led by Ward Stare, Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and performs regularly in Macon, GA. They have traveled extensively, performing at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.; Le Poisson Rouge in New York City; for Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s inauguration in 2011; and on the Charlotte (NC) Chamber Music Society and Brevard (NC) Music Festival concert series. They were featured in Georgia Public Broadcasting’s 2012 “A Grand Mercer Christmas." In September 2016, the ensemble recorded R.E.M. founding member Mike Mills’ Concerto for Rock Band, Violin and String Orchestra with Mills and Robert McDuffie, and Philip Glass' Symphony No. 3. After intermission, winds and brass from NYC will join the string ensemble to perform John Rutter’s Requiem with the Mercer Singers and Dr. Stanley L. Roberts, Director.

As a teacher, Roger Towler directed choirs, bands and musical theater. A professional soloist, Towler sang an extensive repertiire, including oratorios, requiems, and art songs. He adjudicates state vocal contests. A composer of note, he recently premiered several choir pieces, including the sonorous WHEN MUSIC SOUNDS for choir and orchestra, plus the song cycle I PLAY FLUTE. His song cycle, poems by Jane Stembridge, (FREEDOM SUMMER) was recently featured by Song Sourch, in Minneapolis. In 2015 the Cold Spring Maennerchor premiered his MINNESOTA, WE HONOR THEE, near Lake Wobegon. He now leads the Maennerchor for their Carnegie Hall performance.
    
The Cold Spring Area Maennerchor was formed in 1937. The Maennerchor engages in Christmas concerts and Spring Dinner concerts in the community. They also sing at many local churches and perform at private functions. Perpetuating the German heritage of the Greater Cold Spring Community, the Maennerchor prepares an Oktoberfest every other year for the community which includes all authentic German music.  The choir has traveled to Europe twice (1991 and 2001), the British Isles in 1995 and Canada. They have performed at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, and produced a recording at the Vienna Kulturhaus.