Townsend School of Music to host annual homecoming Kaleidoscope Concert

The Townsend School of Music will host its annual Kaleidoscope Concert on homecoming day, Nov. 5, in Fickling Hall.

Various departments of the music school such as the organ, opera, and jazz departments will all be performing acts in different sections of the auditorium beginning at 11 a.m.

David Keith, dean of the Townsend School of Music, said the concert is called the Kaleidoscope Concert because of the various performances happening all around the concert hall. The focus of the concert shifts in a way that is similar to a kaleidoscope.

“Normally at a concert, everything takes place on stage, but that’s not true for this performance,” Keith said. “There may be something that happens from the balcony, maybe from the stage, and maybe from behind the audience.”

Keith said that the only challenge in organizing the concert is finding a variety of performers so that everyone finds at least one aspect of the concert they enjoy.

“We hope that we have a great crowd,” Keith said. “Anyone that comes will not leave disappointed.”

Alexander Locke, a viola performance student at Mercer’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, will be performing in a string quartet as well as singing as part of the Mercer Singers at the Kaleidoscope Concert.

“[The Kaleidoscope Concert] allows us to showcase all types of different music that we do at this music building. It’s typically a short and sweet concert, so it’s a good one to come to,” Locke said. “I hope everyone comes — it’s going to be a great concert.”

Hannah Loeffler is also a student in the music school and will be singing alto in the Mercer Singers performance in the concert. She is a senior and said she has performed in the concert every year.

“It’s really great and I love being in choir,” Loeffler said. “It’s an awesome experience.”

This is the third year that the music school will host this concert. Every year the school honors a professor in the department. This year’s honoree is Martha Malone, the director of Mercer’s opera department.

Malone has been the chair of vocal studies and director of opera at Townsend since she came to Mercer in 1990.

“I have always loved teaching voice as much as I love to perform, and that is saying something,” Malone said. “There is no greater responsibility and honor than helping someone find and realize her or his potential, and it’s such a pleasure to be part of a person’s artistic journey.”