In the News

Andover Organ Series opens fourth season with French organist

Hesston College is pleased to announce the opening concert of the Andover Organ Series fourth season on Monday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. at Hesston Mennonite Church. French organist Pierre Queval will perform the recital. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Andover Organ Series features concerts by organists from around the world on the Opus 116 Andover pipe organ, built by the Andover Organ Company of Methuen, Mass., at Hesston Mennonite Church. The company builds and restores mechanical action pipe organs, and since its founding in 1948, has restored more than 500 organs across the United States, as well as building new instruments

Queval was the first organist in the Andover Organ Series when it began in 2016, and is the first return of an organist for the series.

Queval will perform music by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Widor, Alain, and Vierne. He will conclude the evening with an improvisation. A reception and a chance for audience members to interact with Mr. Quevall will follow the concert.

Born in the region of Nantes, Queval is a recent graduate of the master’s program at the Conservatoire de Paris where he was an organ student of Michel Bouvard and Olivier Latry. He studied improvisation with Thierry Escaich, Laszlo Fassang, Philippe Léfèbvre and Jean-François Zygel. His undergraduate degree is in improvisation as well.

Since 2014, Queval has been the “Organiste Titulaire” of the Cavaillé-Coll/Haerpfer-Ermann organ at Saint-Ignace in Paris, and since 2007 the assistant organist of the historical Debierre organ at Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Port in Nantes. He regularly performs recitals across France and in Paris at churches including Notre-Dame, Saint-Eustache, La Trinité, Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Séverin.

Queval is also the founder of the Meigma Trio with the flautist Charlotte Berthomé and violonist Mathilde Gandar, and the Orpezzo Ensemble with the mezzo Anne-Claire Couchourel and trumpeter Vincent Mitterrand. He is the organ teacher at the Conservatory of Laon, Soissons and Gagny (France).

Famous Bib Lit course going online for a wider audience

Starting with the spring 2020 semester on January 15, Hesston College will take another step to make its well-known Biblical Literature course accessible to people outside of Hesston College with a sixteen-week online course offering.

With the college’s recent announcement of taking Bib Lit, as it is commonly known, on the road to congregations and other groups with Weekend College, online Bib Lit will be a deeper dive into the curriculum that reveals the Bible as a narrative of God and the people of God instead of a compilation of stories.

“Online Bib Lit will allow students in the course to get the full Bib Lit curriculum and learning,” said Michele Hershberger, Bible and Ministry professor. “It’s for people who want the immersive Bib Lit experience and, perhaps, a new way of understanding the biblical narrative and their own faith journey.”

Hershberger, who has nearly 20 years of experience teaching Bib Lit, and who is co-author of the courses’ textbook The Bible as Story: An Introduction to Biblical Literature, designed the online course and has taught Bib Lit online in the past. Bible professor Nick Ladd will teach the spring 2020 online course. Ladd is a 2014 Hesston College Pastoral Ministries graduate who has been teaching at Hesston since 2018.

Throughout the course, students will wrestle with three major themes: Bible study that includes the original contexts, biblical interpretation and the biblical narrative as a connected story. Students will explore cultural, historical and literary contexts of the Bible stories as they work together to complete an inductive Bible study. Students in the course who live locally will be welcome to do the in-class inductive on campus, offering a bit of a hybrid learning option, while students at a distance will connect remotely.

“Students will discuss ways to work through the ‘problem’ of the Bible seeming to disagree with itself on key ethical issues,” said Hershberger. “Most of the class will reveal how individual Bible stories connect with each other and how they work together to show God working to heal broken relationships through a Shalom people of God.”

Online Bib Lit can be taken for credit for $1,200 or audited for $240. Financial aid is not available.

Interested participants should register for the course by January 8. Non-degree seeking students can enroll by completing the community application online. Degree-seeking students should complete the regular application process online.

Larks to thank supporters with night of free basketball games and entertainment

The local community and alumni of Hesston College are invited to the newly renovated Yost Center on Friday, Nov. 15, for Alumni/Community Basketball Night, a free event featuring varsity basketball games, entertainment and fun for the whole family.

The Lark women will take on North Platte Community College at 6 p.m., followed by the men versus Redlands Community College at 8 p.m.

The evening will be filled with games, prizes, snacks, entertainment and an opportunity to see the new and updated facilities first hand.

“Alumni/Community Night allows us to thank alumni and the wider community for all the ways they are involved with and support the college,” said Dallas Stutzman, director of Alumni and Church Relations. “It’s a way Hesston College can give back. This year, it’s also an opportunity for the community to see the result of the construction that has been underway on the building for the last nine months or so.”

In addition to the basketball games, the lineup for the evening includes free haircuts by CC’s Family Hair, the Hesston High School pep band and halftime entertainment.

High school students are invited to a devotional time led by men’s basketball coach Dustin Galyon at halftime of the women’s game in the Yost Center Team Room. Devotional participants should RSVP to brandy.quinn@hesston.edu by Wednesday, Nov. 13.

A smooth and stylish sound set to take HBPA stage with all female group

Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts (HBPA) will host the “warm, lithe and beautifully blended” sound (New York Times) of the all female a cappella group Lorelei Ensemble at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 7 at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus.

With bold programming and expertise spanning early to contemporary music, Lorelei is sure to please fans of HBPA favorites like The King’s Singers and Chanticleer. With accolades such as “impeccable musicality” (Boston Globe) and “elegance, power, grace and beauty of the human voice” (Boston Music Intelligencer), the group has earned national praise for inventive programs that showcase the extraordinary flexibility and virtuosity of the human voice.

The Boston-based, nine-woman vocal chamber group is driven by a mission to advance and elevate women’s vocal ensembles and to enrich the repertoire through forward-thinking and co-creative collaboration. With inspiring artistic vision, Lorelei is compiling culturally relevant and artistically audacious programs that stretch and challenge expectations of both artists and audience.

All nine of the vocalists who make up the group are professionals whose independent soloist careers lend to the group’s rich and diverse palette.

During its HBPA visit, Lorelei will host a master class with choirs from Bethel College, Hesston College and Goessel High School.

Since its founding in 2007, Lorelei Ensemble has commissioned and previewed more than 50 new works. The group also has an extensive list of collaborations, including with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has performed on famed stages across the country such as Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Art Museum.

Single tickets for Lorelei Ensemble are available starting at $23, with discounts available for senior citizens and students. Tickets can be purchased online, by calling 620-327-8104 or in person at the Hesston College Bookstore or Bethel College Thresher Shop during regular business hours.

The next HBPA performance will feature The Swingles with a Christmas performance on Dec. 3.

Started in 1982 as Hesston Performing Arts, the series expanded in 1998 when Hesston College joined forces with Bethel College for The Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts series. The series presents five performances by world-renowned or regionally acclaimed artists each year. HBPA is funded in part by the cities of Hesston and North Newton, Excel Industries and Hustler Turf Equipment (Hesston), the North Newton Community Foundation, the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Area businesses and patrons provide additional funding for the HBPA series.

A Curious Incident more relatable than not

Hesston College Theatre will present five performances of the Tony Award-winning play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Oct. 23 to 27.

“The show is very magical, but even in all its technical wonder, the story is simple – a boy who searches to find the answer to a neighborhood mystery also ends up searing for belonging and a feeling of worth,” said director Rachel Jantzi. “Who hasn’t searched for that at some point?”

Showtimes are at 7 p.m., Oct. 23 to 26, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27. All performances will be in the Keim Center Black Box Theater. Tickets are $10 for adults and seniors and $5 for students, and are available for advance purchase at the Hesston College Bookstore in Erb Hall or online.

The drama, which was hailed by The New York Times as “a phenomenal combination of storytelling and spectacle,” tells the story of a boy who has an autism spectrum condition, as he discovers and investigates the death of his neighbor’s dog. Giving insight into the relationships he has with those around him, the audience is exposed to the struggles, compassion and rewards the boy experiences with himself, his parents and his school mentors.

“This show gives a voice to those who are neurodiverse, a demographic that isn’t often represented in theatre,” said director Rachel Jantzi. “The protagonist navigates a world which is very difficult for him, but he never gives up. There is also a focus on families who aren’t perfect and come up short, but they still try hard to connect and be better. It’s a very real and relatable show.”

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is written by Simon Stephens and based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. At its 2012 premier run in London, the play won seven Olivier Awards, including Best New Play. During its run on Broadway from 2014 to 2016, it won five Tony Awards, including Best Play in 2015.

For the 10 student actors and 10-person production team, it’s a lesson in being stretched and challenged.

From a technical standpoint, precision and timing is key for both actors and crew as physical movements and timed projection help to enhance how life is different for the protagonist.

“Our production is very physical, with actors lifting each other and climbing walls of theatre with very precise, choreographed movements,” explained Jantzi. “Projects are shot onto the floor to help create a sense of space and the structure of the lead character’s brain – precise and grid-like.”

“From the personnel side, we’re also learning to be a cohesive team despite our differences,” said Jantzi. “Our cast and crew has several countries represented, as well as has neurodiverse students involved, and wildly different levels of theatrical experience, and yet we are all creating something together that is very unique and challenging and having a blast while doing it. All of our differences add to the layers of this show, and that is inspiring to watch and direct.”

Weekend College to offer biblical learning to congregations and other groups

As Hesston College prepares its new church leadership program – the Center for Anabaptist Leadership and Learning (CALL) – it is also offering its famous Biblical Literature course to congregations and other groups across the country in an arrangement called Weekend College.

“Weekend College is a non-credit educational experience for congregations or other groups in their own setting where Hesston College Bible and Ministry faculty teach on a variety of topics,” explained Jessica Schrock-Ringenberg, director of the CALL program.

The Weekend College will launch with The Bible as Story, a weekend devoted to helping congregations and conferences put Bible stories together as one big story, expanding biblical literacy and understanding. The resourcing event is based on Hesston’s Biblical Literature course – or Bib Lit as it is more commonly known.

Bib Lit started at Hesston in 1986, created by longtime Bible professor Marion Bontrager, as a way to ensure that students would receive biblical teaching from an Anabaptist perspective as part of their core curriculum. Bib Lit takes a unique approach to teaching the Bible when compared to many other Bible classes – revealing the Bible as a narrative of God and the people of God instead of a compilation of individual stories.

In its more than 30 years of existence, Bib Lit has become iconic to both the Hesston College student experience and known in the wider church as providing sound foundational context to understanding the biblical narrative.

In 2016, the Bib Lit course was transformed from a course manual of loose-leaf sheets of paper contained in three-ring binders to a textbook – The Bible as Story: An Introduction to Biblical Literature, co-authored by Hesston Bible professors Bontrager, Michele Hershberger and John Sharp, who had more than 45 years of combined experience teaching the course.

Hesston’s Bible professors have taken Bib Lit on the road for several years by special request, but Weekend College provides a more formalized approach. The course will be taught by professor Nick Ladd, a 2014 Hesston College Pastoral Ministries graduate who spent about four years as pastor of Salem Mennonite Church in Waldron, Mich., before returning to Hesston on the Bible faculty in 2018.

“The Bible as Story course changed my life and faith, helping me to see God’s same mission from Genesis to Revelation,” said Ladd. “It is my passion and a true blessing to be able to share it with others and watch them come to new realizations about God and their own faith stories.”

Hesston College can also provide the Weekend College experience using other themes, including peace and justice and “Five-fold Church Leadership” or “5Q,” which organizes the life and ministries of the Church around the Ephesians 4 ministries: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds (Pastors) and Teachers.

“5Q shows how the particular callings of the people of God make up the necessary ministries of the body of Christ,” said Schrock-Ringenberg, who has been trained by the 5QCollective as a trainer in the five-fold ministries, and leads Hesston’s “Five-fold” program.

Weekend College typically lasts from Friday evening through Sunday morning, but can also be customized to fit a congregation’s needs. The cost is $2,000 plus travel, lodging and meal reimbursement. Churches and communities who cannot afford the full rate may be eligible for a discounted rate.

Learn more about the Weekend College experience or contact Director of Alumni and Church Relations Dallas Stutzman at 620-327-8110 or dallas.stutzman@hesston.edu.

Prize-winning saxophone quartet performs classical to modern

Four virtuoso wind musicians plus a repertoire spanning centuries equals the first Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts event of the 2019-20 season.

The Donald Sinta Quartet will be onstage in Memorial Hall at Bethel College Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Single tickets range from $27 to $18 (Bethel and Hesston students get in free) and there’s still time to get season tickets ($90 to $70, for five performances).

The Donald Sinta Quartet (DSQ), a first prize winner in the Concert Artists Guild Competition and 2018 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition gold medalist, has earned praise from audiences and critics alike for virtuosic performances, compelling recordings and distinctive repertoire.

The quartet is named for its mentor, legendary University of Michigan saxophone professor Donald Sinta. The group performs entirely from memory, strengthening an already obvious connection with audiences.

Additional competition successes are first prize at the 2017 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, the Alice Coleman Grand Prize at the 2013 Coleman Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2012 North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition.

DSQ’s repertoire ranges from commissions by today’s emerging composers to standards from the saxophone quartet literature to transcriptions by master composers such as Dvorak, Schubert and Shostakovich.

The ensemble has just released their debut recording, Collider, on CAG Records, featuring new works for saxophone quartet.

In 2011, the group gave the world premiere of William Bolcom’s own transcription of his Concerto Grosso with Concert Band, joining the University of Michigan Symphony Band for performances at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts and the Shanghai Conservatory, and garnering praise for the quartet’s subsequent concerto recording.

DSQ has made radio appearances on New York’s WQXR and Interlochen Public Radio, and is featured frequently on American Public Media’s Performance Today.

Recent career highlights include DSQ’s Carnegie Hall recital debut; Purdue University Convocations; Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach, Fla.; Chautauqua (New York) Institution; Bravo! Vail Music Festival; Rockport (Mass.) Chamber Music Festival; Music from Angel Fire (New Mexico); and, in Michigan, the Great Lakes Music Festival and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Among the ensemble’s extensive educational outreach activities, they recently enjoyed extended residencies for Joplin (Mo.) Pro Musica and Anchorage Concert Association, both culminating with performances as part of their season series.

Featured international appearances include Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Strasbourg, France (for the 17th World Saxophone Congress); St. Andrews, Scotland (as part of the 16th World Saxophone Congress); Paris; Geneva; Montreux; Thessaloniki, Greece; and Japan (as one of a select group of ensembles chosen for the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition).

Equally committed to education and community engagement, DSQ has presented clinics and performances at numerous colleges and universities, as well as workshops and performances at dozens of public schools across the United States.

As advocates of new music, the quartet runs the National Saxophone Quartet Composition Competition, which selects two new quartet works from up-and-coming composers each year. DSQ has commissioned and premiered works by David Biedenbender, Kyle Blaha, Matthew Browne, Patrick Harlin, Kristin Kuster, Marc Mellits, Roger Zare and many others.

Founded and still based in Michigan, DSQ’s members are all Selmer-Paris Artists and perform exclusively on Selmer saxophones.

Current DSQ personnel are Dan Graser, soprano saxophone; Zach Stern, alto; Joe Girard, tenor; and Danny Hawthorne-Foss, baritone.

Single tickets for the Donald Sinta Quartet are for sale at Bethel College’s Thresher Shop, open weekdays 8 a.m.-5 p.m., or the Hesston College bookstore, open weekdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m., where you can also buy season tickets. Both single and season tickets are available through the HBPA website.

Additional events in the 2019-20 season are the Lorelei Ensemble, Nov. 7 at Hesston Mennonite Church; The Swingles: Winter Tales, Dec. 3 at Hesston Mennonite Church; The Queen’s Cartoonists, Feb. 7 in Krehbiel Auditorium on the Bethel campus; and Goitse, March 9 at Hesston Mennonite Church.

The series started in 1982 as Hesston Performing Arts, then expanded in 1998 when Hesston College joined forces with Bethel College for Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts, to present five performances by world-renowned or regionally acclaimed artists each school year.

HBPA is funded in part by the cities of Hesston and North Newton, Excel Industries and Hustler Turf Equipment (Hesston), the North Newton Community Foundation, the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Area businesses and patrons provide additional funding for the HBPA series.

An increase in new students presents a turn toward growth opportunities

Hesston College welcomed 192 new students to the community for the 2019-20 year, swinging the new student number back in the positive direction following a smaller new student number of 184 a year prior.

Official enrollment numbers released following the 20th day of classes show a total student enrollment of 386 from 32 U.S. states and territories and 25 countries. The domestic student population includes 51 percent from Kansas and 35 percent from other U.S. states and territories. International students comprise 15 percent of the population. Domestic minority students have climbed to 25 percent of the population.

“Nationwide, the number of high school graduates has been dropping over the last decade,” said President Joseph A. Manickam. “Because of this reality paired with a lower new student number in 2018, we anticipated a smaller enrollment this fall, and we have planned accordingly. We have exciting and innovative plans in the works now that we anticipate will have a positive impact in the future.”

Hesston’s plan to add key four-year degree programs as it has with the new bachelor’s degree program in aviation this fall and nursing in 2015, offer an area for continued growth. This fall, the nursing program has 102 junior and senior students in the final years of their degree training. The aviation program grew by nine students, to a total of 47, between the spring 2019 and fall 2019 semesters, including 15 first-year students joining the community, and four juniors comprising the first bachelor’s degree class.

Other program additions, like the new Intensive English Language Program, could help with growth as early as the spring semester as the five students enrolled in the first year of the non-credit program have the ability to enroll as full-time students in the spring semester following the completion of their language study.

“Higher education has some difficult realities to face right now, and we’re working hard to ensure we’re responding in a way that is sustainable for the future and offers growth opportunities,” said Manickam.

TheatreFest to give high school thespians an opportunity to grow their skills

High school students with interest in any of the many areas of theatre and performing arts are invited to learn tips and tricks to fine tune their craft at Hesston College’s day-long TheatreFest on Saturday, Oct. 19 on the Hesston College campus.

Led by Hesston College performing arts faculty and students, throughout the day, both actors and tech crew members will attend workshops, participate in improv acting exercises and have opportunities to audition for a theatre scholarship.

The cost to attend is $10, and includes breakfast and lunch. Participants who register by Sept. 27 will receive a free T-shirt.

Contact Carla Lahey with questions at carla.lahey@hesston.edu or 620-327-8263.

Students with theatre interest – both as majors or extracurricular interest – are given a variety of ways to get involved at Hesston College as actors and crew. Each academic year, the theatre department performs five mainstage productions, including a play during the fall semester and a musical during the spring semester and collaboration with the music department on a performing arts production incorporating both music and theatre. or the first time in 2019-20, a children’s theatre production will be held on an outdoor stage, and the year wraps with a theatre showcase, featuring students performing scenes, monologues and musical theatre numbers.

Theatre students can also participate in the Traveling Theatre Company, which travels to area high schools performing short shows and holding improv workshops with theatre classes.