Performing arts fill week’s calendar
Conductor Anthony VanPelt acknowledges the applause as the orchestra finishes its concert this past Tuesday. The program included music by Richard Strauss, Frederic Chopin, and conductor/composer Anthony VanPelt himself.
Among this week's inauguration activities have been comedy shows, an orchestra concert, and, still to come, an inaugural concert for Friday evening.
CPR Improv comedy, with members Carl Crispin, Pete Vanderluis, and Jeff "Ringo" Van Haitsma, were inauguration week's opening act Monday evening in Lehman auditorium, after having put on a short teaser for chapel that morning. Lisa Mast, a major coordinator of this week's events, introduced CPR with the announcement that a new appreciation for humor had now come to EMU, not only because of CPR, but because of the arrival of EMU's soon-to-be eighth president, Loren Swartzendruber.
"I'm sure it was there before," she added, "but it oozes and rolls out of Loren. This is a time for laughter."
Laughter "oozed and rolled" out of Carl, Pete, and Ringo as well, who entertained a full house Monday evening with their riotous and original, but wholesome, sense of humor. Explaining this different, cleaner approach to comedy, Carl explained that they, as Christians, didn't feel right making people laugh for the wrong reasons. Instead, they wanted to have people walk away from their shows "feeling good about what they laughed at." However, CPR never deliberately incorporates any kind of "message" into their performance, since they feel people are "turned off" by that.
"We're not preachers, and we're OK with that," Pete said. Instead, their ministry is meant to help people discover the "true joy" of Jesus Christ that overcomes their momentary troubles and goes deeper than temporary happiness.
The EMU Community Orchestra, with conductor Anthony VanPelt and pianist Dr. Stephan Sachs, put on a music concert Tuesday evening in Lehman Auditorium. Their repertoire included one of VanPelt's own, "The Miller Cottage," and ended with "Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise," which featured Sachs at the piano.
The performance was "spirited" and "beautifully romantic," said Carolyn Sachs, wife of Dr. Sachs, while the pianist himself merely said, "Wonderful. It was wonderful."
On Friday evening, an admission-free inaugural concert will be given by a variety of performers, including the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra, Anthony Brown of Hesston College, and some of EMU's own professors and graduates: Kenneth Nafziger, Anne Gross, Stephen Sachs, Heidi Kurtz, and Les Helmuth. Towards the end of the program, the EMU Chamber Singers will feature original Cuban music by Beatriz Corona.
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