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OBU—Oklahoma Baptist University

Bisonette Glee Club Invites Community to Spring Concert May 6

April 28, 2017

The 60-member Bisonette Glee Club, the women’s glee club from Oklahoma Baptist University, invites the community to their spring concert, “Make a Joyful Noise,” Saturday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Raley Chapel’s Yarborough Auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public.

The choir will perform a wide selection of music, including works from Zimbabwe and Spain. Featured in the selections will be three works by the composer Denise Rippentrop, titled “Ocean Pieces,” which utilize piano, percussion and string bass. Four senior music majors – Mary Howington, Emily Fuller, Hannah Wilson and Audrey Johnson – will conduct works during the concert.

Members of the Bisonettes represent the states of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Arizona, Montana, Alaska, California and Colorado, as well as the countries of Mexico and Spain. Members are studying a variety of fields at OBU, including music, psychology, microbiology, mathematics, business, communication arts, theatre, education, languages, nursing, exercise and sports medicine, and computer science.

The group is under the direction of Dr. James Vernon, professor of music, and accompanied by Rachel Foote and Kasey Goodwin. The Bisonettes were founded in 1954 by Warren M. Angell, former dean of the College of Fine Arts. Membership in the group is by annual audition. The group performs at a wide range of campus events and off-campus concerts, including an annual tour of churches and schools. The Bisonettes’ repertoire represents a wide range of compositional styles in both sacred and secular musical formats, and showcases choral standards, traditional numbers and contemporary compositions.

Serving in his seventh year as musical director, the Bisonette Glee Club is conducted by Dr. James Vernon, professor of music. For 27 years, Vernon has served OBU as an instructor in music theory, composition and fine arts, and for 10 years served as chair of the Division of Music. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States and in Europe. His first opera, “A Porcelain Doll,” premiered on the OBU campus in March.