by Daniel Hautzinger
from the Oberlin News Center

It’s a cliché that Oberlin changes your life. Less overstated but no less true is the notion that singing in Collegium Musicum under the direction of Steven Plank does the same. Just ask any of the 70-plus singers who will return to Oberlin the weekend of November 6 to celebrate Plank’s 25th year with the ensemble.

“It’s hard to overestimate the importance that Collegium and Dr. Plank had on my life,” says Christopher Macklin ’04.
“Dr. Plank was such a huge influence on my musical education that there’s not much I wouldn’t do to support him or celebrate his legacy,” David Crean ’06 writes.
“Collegium was more than just pleasurable, more than just meaningful—it was also a transformative education,” according to Zoe Weiss ’07.
Or, in the simple formulation of Martha Cargo ’07: “There’s nothing like it.” Read the article on the Oberlin Conservatory website

by Mike Telin

“England is one of our rather frequent places to visit. In part it has to do with the richness of the sound that the repertory offers,” Oberlin Collegium director Steven Plank told us during a recent telephone conversation. “Almost everything that we are singing on this program is very richly scored so it suits the ensemble well. It’s also the kind of music that revels in glorious sound and the combination of those two things make it rather inviting.”

On Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3 in Fairchild Chapel, the Collegium Musicum Oberliniensis under the direction of Steven Plank presents Musica Britannica. Performances feature Gibbons’s O Clap Your Hands, Browne’s O Maria Salvatoris, Byrd’s Ave verum corpus, O salutaris hostia and Sacerdotes Domini, Tye’s Missa euge bone, Sheppard’s Salvator mundi, Domine and Libera nos and Paul Mealor’s Ubi Caritas. An abbreviated version of the concert will be presented on Wednesday, May 7 at 12:10 noon as part of Trinity Cathedral’s Brownbag Concert Series. [Read more…]