University group and Pittsburg High School group partner to perform for public

Two large regional music groups directed by Pittsburg State University graduates are collaborating for a shared performance on Oct. 23 that is free and open to the campus and community. 

The Southeast Kansas Symphony, founded at Pitt State in 1915 and directed now by Assistant Professor Ramiro Miranda, will perform with the Pittsburg Multigenerational Chorus, founded in 2009 by Pittsburg High School music teacher Susan Laushman. 

Both directors are graduates of the university’s Music program. 

The chorus is comprised of a blend of more than 150 community members ranging in age from 14 to 84+, including several Pitt State faculty, staff, and students, as well as PHS students and teachers, and parents and grandparents of PHS students.  

The chorus has rehearsed twice a week at PHS since school began in August. The impact on all participants is felt far beyond an annual concert. Friendships are forged and a sense of community develops. 

The symphony also is a blend of community members and Pitt State students, faculty, staff, and alumni. It rehearses two to three times a week throughout the academic year and will perform three additional concerts at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts in coming months. 

The joint program, called “Classically Cool,” will include a variety of tunes, from the opera “Carmen” featuring professional vocalist and former Pitt State faculty member Lisa Gerstenkorn, to “Devil Went Down to Georgia” featuring Miranda on the fiddle and local teacher Bryan Mahnken (also an alumnus) as narrator. 

This concert will begin at 7 p.m. at Memorial Auditorium, 503 N. Pine. The house will open for seating at 6:30 p.m.  

Donations will be accepted at the door to help support the program.