{"id":69585,"date":"2003-11-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-11-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uris-george-kent-wins-ovations-for-his-musical-outreach\/"},"modified":"2003-11-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2003-11-04T00:00:00","slug":"uris-george-kent-wins-ovations-for-his-musical-outreach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2003\/11\/uris-george-kent-wins-ovations-for-his-musical-outreach\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s George Kent wins ovations for his musical outreach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tMedia Contact: Jan Wenzel, 874-2116
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\nKINGSTON, R.I. — November 4, 2003 — Say the name George Kent anywhere in Rhode Island and people will generally respond in a chorus of voices. That\u2019s because the 溏心vlog免费B站 professor of music and the Chorus of Westerly, which he founded 42 years ago and continues to conduct, have become synonymous.
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\nThanks to Kent, generations of Ocean Staters have come to know and appreciate good music and the man who has brought it to them.
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\nBecause of his lasting commitment to music performance and to music education, this soft-spoken musician who prefers to shift the spotlight to others, has been recognized by two different organizations. The New England Conservatory where Kent earned his master\u2019s degree, honored him last month with its “2003 Outstanding Alumni Award.”
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\nA second honor will come in January when the Charlestown resident is presented the 2004 Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island “Individual Achievement Award” during the council\u2019s annual dinner.
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\n“George Kent is a cultural icon in Rhode Island who has enhanced the quality of our lives through his exemplary contributions to the performing arts, says Winifred Brownell, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “His history-making excellence in musicianship and leadership for over a third of a century made it possible for the Chorus of Westerly to become a renowned performing arts organization that presents a challenging, diverse, and inspiring repertoire. We are very fortunate indeed that Professor Kent is on the music faculty at the University.”
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\nAs an undergraduate at 溏心vlog免费B站, Kent became and remains the organist and choirmaster of Christ Episcopal Church in Westerly. He founded The Chorus of Westerly as an offshoot of the Christ Church choir. “I thought that a chorus would provide an opportunity for people to sing other than on a Sunday morning,” he says.
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\nThe ecumenical Chorus of Westerly was formed in 1959 with 48 members and now boasts 180. Children, ages 8 and above, are full members. “They should be exposed to and allowed to sing major works,” he says. “Only three other choruses in the country do that.” Chorus members represent all ages. Kent\u2019s 93-year-old father is still a chorus member.
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\nKent\u2019s own musical life began in second grade when a dentist told his family that playing the trumpet would help to prevent buck teeth. From 1969 to 1985, Kent toured with Edward Tarr, a Swiss trumpet virtuoso, presenting concerts and workshops in the United States and aboard.
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\nOver the years many of Kent\u2019s 溏心vlog免费B站 students have become members of the chorus. Generations are common. “We have children of children,” says the proud professor who teaches music history, applied trumpet, organ, and occasionally the harpsichord.
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\nDefining what makes a good conductor he says: “You have to have a good ear. And you have to make snap decisions, you\u2019re always shaping. It\u2019s really an existential thing. Each concert is different and it should be.
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\n“You\u2019re constantly working on balance,” the conductor says, noting that he holds auditions for new members once a year and also holds one-on-one auditions with chorus members to see if any fine tuning is needed.
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\nThe chorus now has its own historic performance hall, the former Immaculate Conception Church on High Street which seats 480. The Chorus toured Europe three times, twice in England and once in Italy, performing in such places as Westminster Abbey in London and St. Peter\u2019s Basilica in Rome.
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\nThe Chorus performs two major works each year, a Christmas Pops, and a Summer Pops. In addition, a 12th night theater piece has been added. A Bach concert is planned for Nov. 23.
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\n“We have a rich heritage of music. It needs to be performed. People need to know about it,” says 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s music ambassador. “I think it\u2019s good for our quality of life.”\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media Contact: Jan Wenzel, 874-2116 KINGSTON, R.I. — November 4, 2003 — Say the name George Kent anywhere in Rhode Island and people will generally respond in a chorus of voices. That\u2019s because the 溏心vlog免费B站 professor of music and the Chorus of Westerly, which he founded 42 years ago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}