Men's Chorus Fall Tour
November 5
Daytime Performances:
Hilliard City Schools Tenor-Bass Festival, Hilliard, Ohio
Dublin Scioto High School, Dublin, Ohio
Evening Performance:
Indian Run United Methodist Church, 7pm
6305 Brand Rd.
Dublin, OH 43016
November 6
Daytime Performances:
Dublin Jerome High School, Dublin, Ohio
Olentangy High School, Lewis Center, Ohio
Worthington Kilbourne, Columbus, Ohio
Evening Performance:
Findlay First Presbyterian Church, 7pm
2330 South Main St.
Findlay, OH 45840
Richard Schnipke, conductor
C.J. Capen, pianist
Brock Burkett, graduate assistant
Program
Creator Alme Siderum | Gregorian Chant, Arr. Richard Burchard (b. 1960)
Galen Coffman, soloist
Latin:
Creator alme siderum,
aeterna lux credentium,
Iesu, Redemptor omnium,
intende votis supplicum.
Qui daemonis ne fraudibus
periret orbis, impetu
amoris actus, languidi,
mundi medela factus es,
Commune qui mundi nefas
ut expiares, ad crucem
e Virginis sacrario
intacta prodis victima.
Cuius potestas gloriae,
Nomenque cum primum sonat,
et caelites et inferi
tremente curvantur genu.
Te, deprecamur ultimae
magnum diei Iudicem,
armis supernae gratiae
defende nos ab hostibus.
Virtus, honor, laus, gloria
Deo Patri cum Filio,
Sancto simul Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula.
English Translation:
Bright builder of the heavenly poles,
eternal light of faithful souls,
Jesus, Redeemer of mankind,
our humble prayers vouchsafe to mind:
Who, lest the fraud of hell's black king
should all men to destruction bring,
didst, by an act of generous love,
the fainting world's physician prove.
Thou, that Thou mightst our ransom pay
and wash the stains of sin away,
didst from a Virgin's womb proceed
and on the Cross a Victim bleed.
Thy glorious power, Thy saving Name
no sooner any voice can frame,
but heaven and earth and hell agree
to honor them with trembling knee.
Thee, Christ, who at the latter day
shalt be our Judge, we humbly pray
such arms of heavenly grace to send
as may Thy Church from foes defend.
Be glory given and honor done
to God the Father and the Son
and to the Holy Ghost on high,from age to age eternally.
A Newer World | Jonathan Reid, Text from “Ulysses” by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
Come, my friends!
’Tis not too late!
Come, my friends,
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
I cannot rest from travel,
For always roaming with a hungry heart,
Much I have seen and known.
I am a part of all I’ve met,
Yet all experience is an arch
Where thro’ gleams that untravelled world.
How dull it is to pause,
To make an end,
Not to shine in use!
And my spirit yearns in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star
Beyond the bound of human thought!
Come, my friends!
My purpose holds:
To sail beyond the sunset ’til I die!
Though much is taken, much abides:
Heroic hearts, strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield!
Come, my friends!
’Tis not too late!
Come, my friends,
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Mainacht | Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), arr. Z. Randall Stroope (b. 1953)
Grayson Abend, conductor
German:
Wann der silberne Mond durch die Gesträuche blinkt,
Und sein schlummerndes Licht über den Rasen streut,
Und die Nachtigall flötet,
Wandl’ ich traurig von Busch zu Busch.
Überhüllet vom Laub, girret ein Taubenpaar
Sein Entzücken mir vor; aber ich wende mich,
Suche dunklere Schatten,
Und die einsame Träne rinnt.
Wann, o lächelndes Bild, welches wie Morgenrot
Durch die Seele mir strahlt, find’ ich auf Erden dich?
Und die einsame Träne
Bebt mir heißer die Wang’ herab.
English:
When the silvery moon gleams through the bushes,
And sheds its slumbering light on the grass,
And the nightingale is fluting,
I wander sadly from bush to bush.
Covered by leaves, a pair of doves
Coo to me their ecstasy; but I turn away,
Seek darker shadows,
And the lonely tear flows down.
When, O smiling vision, that shines through my soul
Like the red of dawn, shall I find you here on earth?
And the lonely tear
Quivers more ardently down my cheek.
She Rises | Catherine Dalton
She rises up from the heather.
Her flame in hand, she crosses the sky.
When she’s tired she lays down her head.
In the sweet heather, she makes her bed.
All night we tend to her flame,
her sacred light, eternal and bright.
When she wakes, she’ll open her eyes.
Then up from the heather, she’ll again rise.
She flames the poet’s pen,
fires the forge and hearth,
lights the fire within.
Good Timber | Susan LaBarr (b. 1981), text by Douglas Malloch (1877-1938)
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.
The next two pieces will be performed as a set, without applause.
Inundation from Earth, Mother |Mari Esabel Valverde (b. 1987), text by Sherry Blevins (b. 1969)
Zion Bateman, Elijah Ondrish & Ethan Ondrish, percussion
Earth, Mother! Hear our cries!
The river that flows, flows in our blood.
We pulsate with forces of nature.
The tide that moves, moves with our breath.
We rise and swell as the ocean.
The water that surges, surges through our song
And sustains us in our fight.
We flow and we rise.
We surge and we fight.
Mother Earth! Water is life.
Earth, Mother! Hear our cries!
The fire that burns, burns like our rage.
We pulsate with forces of nature.
The inferno that roars, roars from our throats.
We rise and swell with shouts of protest.
Our torch that blazes, catches like wildfire.
We surge in our collective power.
We rage and we roar.
We protest and we rise.
Mother Earth! Hear our cries!
Let Us Plant Our Gardens Now | Dominick DiOrio (b. 1984), text from the poem “Habitat” by Megan Levad
Ash Porter, speaker
Brock Burkett, tenor soloist
Zion Bateman, djembe
“[Justice] does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many.” -John Rawls
Neighbor, let us find nature.
Near us, in us. Nurture
the wild freedom of the human creature.
No longer sacrifice some among our numbers
to a twisted idol, exiled from clear, cool water,
wholesome earth, sun-warmed air,
and bees, and time enough to grow. No longer offer
gilded alibis as we make whole communities canaries,
whose silence has until now been their
song. Neighbor, we are kind, kin, ken. We will all enter
a commons, this only earth and air and water,
in the end. Let us plant our gardens now, together, where we live.
Gaudete! | arr. Michael Engelhardt (b. 1974), text from Piae Cantiones, 1582
Jake Grafitti and Apollo Bernath, soloists
Zion Bateman, Elijah Ondrish, Ethan Ondrish & Andrew Sowders, percussion
Latin:
Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus
Ex Maria Virgine: gaudete!
Tempus adest gratiae,
Hoc quod optabamus;
Carmina laeticiae
Devote reddamus.
Deus homo factus est,
Natura mirante;
Mundus renovantus est
A Christo regnante.
Ergo nostra concio
Psallat jam in lustro;
Benedicat Domino:
Salus Regi nostro.
English:
Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born
Of the Virgin Mary: rejoice!
It is not the time of grace,
That we have desired;
Let us devoutly return
Songs of rejoicing.
God has become man,
And nature marvels;
The world has been renewed
By Christ who is King.
Therefore, let our song,
Now resound in purification;
Let it give praises to the Lord:
Salvation to our King.
Traditional Songs of the BGSU Men’s Chorus
Brothers, Sing On! | Edvard Greig (1843-1907), arr. Howard D. McKinney
Come and let our swelling song
Mount like the whirling wind,
As it meets our singing throng,
So Blithe of heart and mind
Care and sorrow now be gone
Brothers, sing on!
Youth is a wand’ring troubadour
Sailing the singing breeze,
Wooing a maid on a distant shore,
Over the tossing seas;
Steering by the stars above,
His vessel a song of love.
Brothers, sing on!
Errant minstrels, thus we greet you,
List to our voices strong,
With glad and open hearts we meet you
In our festival of song.
Care and sorrow now be gone,
Brothers, sing on!
Forward Falcons! | Wayne Bohrnstedt, Gilbert Fox & Edith Ludwig Bell, arr. Will Baughman (b. 1993)
Brock Burkett, conductor
Forward Falcons!
Fight for victory.
BGSU!
Show our spirit.
Make them fear it.
Fight for ol’ BG
Forward Falcons!
Make the contest keen.
Hold up the fame
Of our mighty name
And win for Bowling Green
When all is but a memory
Of the bygone days
We’ll remember them always,
Those good ol’ by gone days
Ay Ziggy Zoomba Zoomba Zoomba
Ay Ziggy Zoomba Zoomba Ze
Ay Ziggy Zoomba Zoomba Zoomba
Ay Ziggy Zoomba Zoomba Ze
Roll along you BG warriors
Roll along and win for BGSU!
Alma Mater | Edith Ludwig Bell (1929-1988), arr. John M. Hyde
Alma mater hear us
As we praise thy name.
Make us worthy sons and daughters
Adding to thy fame.
Time will treat you kindly
And some years from now you’ll be
Ever dearer to our hearts,
Our University
From the halls of Ivy
Over to the campus scene,
Chimes ring out with gladness
For our dear Bowling Green.
When all is but a memory
Of the bygone days,
Hear our hymn dear Alma mater
As thy name we praise.
Tenor I
Dylan Allen ‘29, Psychology, South Central HS
Nate Black ‘27, Construction Management, Bethel HS
Jermel Bolden ‘29, Music Education, Waite HS
Felix Branham ‘30, Music Education, Maumee HS
Andrew Broadhurst ‘29, Psychology, Hilliard Davidson HS
Noah Burke ‘28, Psychology, Green HS
Brock Burkett ‘27, Graduate Choral Conducting, Bowling Green State University
Joshua Carmona ‘30, Business, Westerville Central HS
Janko Dordevic ‘30, Music Industry, Brecksville-Broadview Heights HS
Hunter Doxey ‘29, Music Education, Avon HS
Gabriel Gamez ‘29, Media Production, Waite HS
Landon Hanover ‘30, Undecided, Padua Franciscan HS
Matilda Henry ‘29, Studio Art, Berea Midpark HS
Corban Hutchins ‘27, Music Education, Princeton HS
Quentin Johnson ‘29, Musical Theater, Oak Hills HS
Parker Kansorka ‘30, Music Education, Springfield HS
Brady Kline ‘30, Undecided, Van Buren HS
Nathaniel Knox ‘27, Environmental Policy and Analysis, Hamilton HS
Joseph Pokrywka ‘29, Music Education, St. Edward HS
Jacob Ramirez ‘28, Music Education, Dublin Jerome HS
Kaden Salaz ‘29, Business Administration, Defiance HS
Noah Slawinski ‘29, Business Analytics, Delphos-St. John’s HS
Cullen Tussing ‘30, Music Education, Van Buren HS
Miguel Vasquez ‘30, Electronics and Computer Science, Woodridge HS
Andrew Vo ‘27, Music Education, Grove City HS
Tenor II
Grayson Abend ‘28, Graduate Choral Conducting & Vocal Pedagogy, The Ohio State University
Ethan Ackerman ‘30, Communications & Education, Clay HS
Landon Adams ‘29, History, Van Wert HS
Cameron Carnahan ‘30, Music Education, Little Miami HS
Logan Estep ‘30, Music Education, Galion HS
Dr. Todd Graber ‘82, BGSU SAGE Program, Bowling Green State University
Jake Grafitti ‘27, Music Education, Perrysburg HS
Liam Hanna ‘28, Forensic Biology, Norwalk HS
Gavric Herring ‘28, Music Education, Olentangy Berlin HS
Ajay Jewell ‘28, Sports Management, Chillicothe HS
Bruin Kennedy ‘27, Musical Theater & Design, Sandusky HS
Lukas Klear ‘30, Communications, Miller City - New Cleveland HS
Caleb Lambert ‘29, Biology, Manchester HS
David Layne ‘30, English Education, Eaton HS
Eddie Lyons ‘30, AYA Social Studies Education, Bowling Green HS
Jace Murphy ‘30, Resort and Attraction Management, Kenton HS
Elijah Ondrish ‘27, Music Education, North Royalton HS
Ryan Rohr ‘28, AYA Social Studies Education, Covington HS
Alex Ross-Crabtree ‘29, Criminal Justice, Spencerville HS
Ethan Salyers ‘30, AYA Math Education, Monroe HS
Jordan Shipe ‘30, Undecided, Sidney HS
Josh Shipe ‘27, 3-D Animation, Fairbanks HS
Nathan Shultz ‘30, Visual Communication Tech, Bellefontaine HS
Mason Smith ‘27, AYA Social Studies Education, Liberty-Benton HS
Andrew Sowders ‘28, Music Education, Arcadia HS
Aidan Stammen ‘29, Resort & Attraction Management, Grove City HS
Aaron Stephenson ‘27, Individualized Studies, Loudonville HS
Anthony Stout ‘28, Music Education, Oak Harbor HS
Toby Voyer ‘30, Theater, Pike Delta York HS
Andrew Walpole ‘29, Music Education, Delphos-St. John’s HS
Evan Wilson ‘30, Business Administration, North Allegheny HS
Baritone
Caden Beier ‘29, Music Education, Evergreen HS
Apollo Bernath ‘28, Vocal Performance, Sylvania Northview HS
Cole Boswell ‘30, Music Education, Bowling Green HS
Karson Clack ‘30, Music Education, Sidney HS
Gunnar Davis ‘29, Exercise Science, Grove City HS
Trevor Dorn ‘29, Criminal Justice, Liberty-Benton HS
Jess Driggs ‘27, Music Industry, Sylvania Northview HS
Sean Eason ‘29, Forensic Examination, Grove City HS
Sam Edwards ‘30, Piano Performance, Sylvania Northview HS
Andrew Fordyce ‘29, Music Education, Notre Dame - Cathedral Latin HS
Nicolas Golini ‘27, Ecology, Sylvania Southview HS
Kierce Gonzalez ‘27, Mechatronics, Maumee HS
Zachary Hardy ‘30, Music Education, Wauseon HS
Eliseo Hernandez ‘28, Music Performance, Defiance HS
Samuel Homan ‘30, Music Education, New Bremen HS
Gavin Horn ‘28, Music Education, Bellevue HS
Braden Hunsberger ‘30, Forensic Examination, Otsego HS
Anderson Hurt ‘30, Media Production, Grove City HS
Nick Johnson ‘30, Music Education, Columbus Grove HS
Spencer Kilpatrick ‘29, Sociology, Perry HS
Eddie Kruse ‘30, Cello Performance, Sylvania Northview HS
Mark LaForest ‘30, Bachelor of Musical Arts, Notre Dame - Cathedral Latin HS
Alec Lee ‘27, Music Education, Oak Hills HS
Chandler Mailhot ‘29, Undecided, Mentor HS
Jonathon McNevin ‘26, Communications, Olentangy Berlin HS
Cypress Miller ‘30, Music Composition, Firestone HS
Dr. Patrick Pauken ‘97, BGSU SAGE Program, The Ohio State University
Keith Seppala ‘30, Music Education, Northwest Ohio Classical Academy
Rusty Teegardin ‘30, Music Industry, McComb HS
Terrence Thomas ‘30, Undecided, Sidney HS
Declan Tracey ‘29, Music Education, Northwest Ohio Classical Academy
Ryan Viers ‘30, AYA Social Studies Education, Monroe HS, Michigan
Lincoln Walker ‘29, Jazz Studies, Marysville Early College HS
Starr Washington ‘28, Vocal Performance, Stivers School for the Arts
Joshua Wolin ‘26, Film Production, Bloom-Carroll HS
Bass II
Kyle Burckhard ‘30, Undecided, Tri-County North HS
Luca Caretto ‘27, Bachelor of Musical Arts, Shaker Heights HS
Galen Coffman ‘29, Music Education & Composition, Shawnee Mission South HS, Kansas
Mason Cooper ‘30, AYA Math Education, Medina HS
Jacob Davidson ‘30, Biology, Highland HS
Tyler Dircksen ‘29, Music Education, Celina HS
Taylor Dirlam ‘29, History, Clyde HS
Aidan Gerlica ‘30, AYA ILA Education, Chardon HS
Trent Gibson ‘29, Music Performance, Miller City HS
Josiah Hoang ‘29, Sports Management, West Carrollton HS
John Humphrey ‘27, Geology, Mount Vernon HS
Alexander Johncock ‘30, Education, Berea Midpark HS
Parker Lake ‘24, M. Ed. Instructional Design and Educational Technology, Western Governor’s University
Gabriel Lancianese ‘28, Biology, Manchester HS
Xavier Lautzenheiser ‘29, Music Education, Lake HS
Josiah Leichty ‘29, Data Science, Liberty-Benton HS
Sean Macy ‘29, Undecided, St. Francis School - Toledo
Tyee Marchal ‘29, History, Fort Recovery HS
Willis McClure ‘27, Music Performance, Cornerstone HS
Ethan Ondrish ‘29, Music Performance & Data Science, North Royalton HS
Ash Porter ‘28, Design Technology, West Clermont HS
Drake Ramey ‘29, Computer Science, Madison Comprehensive HS
Kai Reed ‘29, Music Education, Kenton HS
Ty Ritzler ‘29, Communications, Olentangy Berlin HS
Brody Rodriguez ‘29, Music Education, Wauseon HS
Gavyn Sanchez ‘28, Theater, Botkins Local School
Caleb Siedler ‘30, Theater, Acting and Directing, Grove City HS
Michael Smeltzer ‘30, AYA Math Education, Upper Arlington HS
Ethan Stitt ‘28, Applied Mathematics, Bloom-Carroll HS
Ethan Vandeneynde ‘27, Computer Science, Perrysburg HS
Payton White ‘30, Music Education, Northwestern HS
Dr. Richard Schnipke serves as Associate Professor of Music Performance and Director of Choral Activities at Bowling Green State University. His duties at BGSU include conducting the Collegiate Chorale and Men’s Chorus, as well as teaching graduate courses in choral repertoire and graduate and undergraduate conducting. Previously, Dr. Schnipke held faculty positions at Xavier University and The Ohio State University and spent 15 years as a public-school choral director. He holds degrees from Bowling Green State University and The Ohio State University and has done additional graduate studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Choirs under Schnipke’s direction have performed at national and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and have made numerous appearances at the Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference and the Ohio Choral Directors Association Summer Conference. Schnipke’s choirs have also sung for the American Musicological Society and for several national seminars of the IMC: The Tenor-Bass Choral Consoritum. Dr. Schnipke also regularly prepares professional choruses for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and frequently presents at state, regional, and national conference on the incorporation of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the choral rehearsal.
Schnipke performs regularly as a professional chorister and has served as tenor section leader for Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble (Grammy Award winner, Craig Hella Johnson, music director). He is a Past-President of the Ohio Choral Directors Association, has served on the National Board of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and is currently on the board of IMC: The Tenor-Bass Choral Consortium.
CJ CAPEN is musical coordinator and accompanist in the BGSU Department of Theatre & Film and collaborative pianist for the University Men's Chorus. He holds an MM in Collaborative Piano from University of North Carolina, Greensboro, a BFA in Piano Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Choral Conducting from Messiah University.
He has been staff accompanist & vocal coach for Chicago Summer Opera, Elon University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. He has served as keyboard artist for Georgetown Chorale, Vienna Chorale Society, and the semi-professional choir, "Voce Chamber Singers" from 2013-2023. He has toured China with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra flutist Lauren Sileo in 2014, given lecture recitals for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and he has given benefit concerts to include: S.O.M.E's 40th Anniversary Celebration, St Thomas More Cathedral Recital Series, Reston Drop-In Center, Cornerstone, and the Maryknoll Society.
He is also a conductor, having served as conductor for Opera Steamboat's production of "Frida", guest conductor for Reston Chorale's Messiah Sing-Along, conductor for the Arlington Diocese Choral Festival, choral director and musical director at Paul VI High School for many years, and he served as Director of Music at St John Neumann Church in Reston VA from 2008-2023, one of the largest churches in the Diocese of Arlington.
Thanks for attending our performances. If you have enjoyed your
experience, please consider donating to the College of Musical Arts in
support of our students and programming. Donate online at bgsu.edu/givecma, or call Karmen Concannon at 419-372-2424.
To our guests with disabilities, please indicate if you need special services, assistance or appropriate modifications to fully participate in our events by contacting Accessibility Services, access@bgsu.edu, 419-372-8495. Please notify us prior to the event.
Audience members are reminded to silence alarm watches, pagers and cellular phones before the performance. As a matter of courtesy and copyright law, no recording or unauthorized photographing is allowed. BGSU is a nonsmoking campus.
Updated: 11/04/2026 08:54PM