The Hesston College Concert Band and Bel Canto Singers will present separate Iowa performances Sunday, Jan. 15. Bel Canto will present a program of sacred choral music during the 9:30 a.m. service at First Mennonite Church of Iowa City. The Concert Band will perform with the Iowa Mennonite School (Kalona) Symphonic Band at 2 p.m. in IMS’s Celebration Hall. Both concerts are free and open to the public. Hesston College alumni and friends are particularly invited to attend.

The 22-member Hesston College Concert Band directed by Bradley Kauffman and 21-member IMS Symphonic Band conducted by Karenza Yoder, will present “Collaborations,” under the direction of Kauffman. The concert features band selections by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Percy Grainger, as well as solo performances by Hesston College students.

The concert marks a homecoming for Kauffman who began his teaching career at IMS 15 years ago. He is in his fifth year as a music faculty member at Hesston College.

“Music is nothing if not a collaboration,” said Kauffman. “We cultivate collaboration among musicians and we engage audiences in a relationship as well. The give and take of music-making can teach us how to have mature conversations.”

Bel Canto, also under the direction of Kauffman, is a 21-voice mixed chamber choir selected by competitive auditions during the 2010-11 school year. Their Sunday morning concert is entitled “Attributes, Actions and Adulation.”

“The set of pieces explores God’s attributes and actions, and the adulation God’s people pour out in response,” said Kauffman.