In the News

Masterworks concert “Light Eternal” brings comfort to holiday season

Hesston College Music and Theater will present the annual masterworks performance at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 9, at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus. The program, Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna (Light Eternal), will acknowledge the light that Christ brings to our world.

The Hesston College community and wider community has experienced several losses in recent years, including the deaths of Hesston College employees and close family members and the shooting at Excel Industries. Yet, the Advent season, reminds us that Christ entered a world of darkness and brings us comfort and peace.

“When audience members arrive they will have the opportunity to write the name of a loved one on a glass holiday ornament that will be used during the performance to decorate a Christmas tree,” said Hesston College music faculty member Russell Adrian.

Adrian will conduct the chorus made up of three Hesston College choirs and community participants. In a collaboration with Hesston College Theater, the five movement work will be interjected with theatre pieces and holiday music that allows performers and audience members to remember the lives of loved ones as we celebrate the Light that comforts us during the Christmas season. Finally, the work closes by confessing that Christ is the savior of the world and asking for perpetual light.

Hesston College Theater Director, Rachel Jantzi, has pulled scenes from 15 different works and woven them together in a powerful narrative that brings the meaning of the Lux Aeterna to life. Theater students will participate in interpreting these scenes.

“The music and theater pieces are incredible,” Adrian said. “There will be opportunities for the audience to sing Christmas carols with the choir and orchestra.”

Tickets for the concert are $10 for adults, $5 for students and free of charge for Hesston College students. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at the Hesston College Bookstore in person or by calling 620-327-8104.

Smithsonian traveling exhibition exploring water’s environmental and cultural impact coming to Hesston

From above, Earth appears as a water planet with more than 71 percent of its surface covered with this vital resource for life. Water impacts climate, agriculture, transportation, industry and more. It inspires art and music.

The Hesston Public Library (300 N. Main, Hesston, Kan.), in cooperation with Kansas Humanities Council will examine water as an environmental necessity and an important cultural element as it hosts “Water/Ways,” a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program. “Water/Ways” will be on view Nov. 18 to December 31.

“Water/Ways” tours six Kansas communities in 2017-18. Other host communities include: Eudora Area Historical Society; Thomas County Historical Society, Colby; Boot Hill Museum, Dodge City; Geary County Historical Society, Junction City; and Symphony in the Flint Hills, Cottonwood Falls.

“Through a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program, the Kansas Humanities Council is able to bring the resources of the nation’s premier cultural institution to museums, historical societies, and public libraries in Kansas’ small towns and rural communities,” said Julie Mulvihill, executive director of the Kansas Humanities Council. “Our six ‘Water/Ways’ hosts were selected because of their innovative plans to use the Smithsonian exhibition as a springboard to explore local stories of how water has shaped their own communities and the impact water will have on their future.”

The Hesston community has been studying about the water crisis during the fall of 2017 through a community read of Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis by Cynthia Barnett, led by Hesston College and the Hesston Public Library. Barnett spoke on the Hesston College campus and at other locations throughout the community on Nov. 2.

The Kansas Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization that supports community-based cultural programs, serves as a financial resource through an active grant-making program, and encourages Kansans to engage in the civic and cultural life of their communities. For more information, visit www.kansashumanities.org.

For more information about “Water/Ways” in Hesston, contact the Hesston Public Library at 620-327-4666 or hesstonpubliclibrary@gmail.com or visit www.hesstonpubliclibrary.com.

Article used with permission from the Hesston Public Library.

HBPA to present Christmas with Mirari Brass Quintet

Bringing a spirit of innovation to the world of brass repertoire, the Mirari Brass Quintet will perform Christmas with Mirari Brass Quintet as part of the Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts season lineup at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 1, on the Hesston College campus in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary.

Now in its seventh season, the Mirari Brass Quintet is made up of Alex Noppe and Matthew Vangjel on trumpets, Jessie Thoman on horn, Sarah Paradis on trombone, and Stephanie Frye on tuba.

The music of the quintet spans many centuries and genres. Christmas with Mirari Brass Quintet will feature Christmas-centric music with several traditional carols.

The Mirari Brass Quintet has added nearly two dozen works to the brass quintet repertoire since 2009, with group members also contributing a number of arrangements and original compositions. Mirari Brass has performed extensively across the United States.

Thanks to a grant from the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, in addition to the public concert, the quintet will also offer educational outreach with area elementary school students and college students.

Reserved seating and general admission tickets for Mirari Brass Quintet are available online or by calling 620-327-8105. Single tickets are for sale in the Hesston College Bookstore and at Bethel College’s Thresher Shop in Schultz Student Center during regular business hours. Reserved seating is $27 (adults and senior citizens), and general admission seating ranges from $18-$23 with discounts for students and senior citizens.

The Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts series is a collaborative effort of Hesston College and Bethel College, presenting 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, the National Endowment for the Arts and area patrons.

Voice students break into semi-finals at competition

Hesston College voice students competed among the best collegiate vocalists in a four-state region at the annual National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) West Central Region Vocal Competition Nov. 4 to 5, at the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley, Colo.). Nine students represented Hesston College during the weekend competition with three advancing to the semifinal round.

Students from colleges and universities of all sizes in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming compete against one another in the same class level and gender.

The Hesston students who advance to the semifinals in their divisions were Risa Fukaya (Zushi, Japan) in Freshman Women Classical, Kenton Schroeder (Harper, Kan.) in Freshman Men Classical and Therin Smith (Key West, Fla.) in Freshman Men Classical.

The students all study voice with Hesston College voice professor Holly Swartzendruber.

Annual talent show an entertainment option for families

Hesston College invites alumni, friends, parents and the Hesston community to the college’s annual Talent Show at 8 p.m., Saturday, November 18, at Hesston Mennonite Church. The show is free and open to the public.

The show will feature an eclectic mix of skits and songs performed by students, faculty and staff and is appropriate for families.

“The Talent Show is a long-running Hesston College tradition,” said Brent Brockmueller, resident director and staff sponsor for the mostly student-run event. The Bills and Normas, a group of eight sophomores, help plan and run the show and perform several skits during the hour-long show.

“Auditions are happening this week. We will see if Ken Rodgers will again offer a Julia Child cooking lesson as he has the last several years. That’s always a highlight,” Brockmueller added.

Arrive early for cookies and refreshments in the Hesston Mennonite Church Community Center from 7:15 to 7:45.

The show will also be available by live webcast.

Andover Organ Series to feature Polish organist

The first concert in the 2017-18 Andover Organ Series will feature Polish organist Karol Mossakowski. Born in 1990 into a family of musicians, he started studying piano and organ with his father at the age of three. After study at the Music Academy of Poznań, he was accepted into the National Music Conservatory in Paris where he studied with Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard. He has won numerous competitions, including the prestigious 2016 Chartres International Organ Competition in improvisation.

The program will be Tuesday, November 7, at 7 p.m. at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus. Mr. Mossakowski will perform works by Bach, Mozart, Franck and Mendelssohn as well as an improvisation. This concert will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the installation of the Andover Organ at Hesston Mennonite Church. The concert is free and open to the public.

Andover organs are built by the Andover Organ Company of Methuen, Mass. 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, including the Opus 116 pipe organ, installed at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus in 2007.

Vienna Boys Choir to perform “Bella Italia” at Hesston Mennonite Church

The Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts series welcomes the internationally-acclaimed Vienna Boys Choir Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Hesston Mennonite Church in the second performance of this season’s concert series.

The Vienna Boys Choir consists of 100 boys between the ages of 10 and 14 from all over the world, 24 of whom will perform the “Bella Italia” concert on Nov. 9. The program will feature compositions from Italy, including classical pieces by Vivaldi, Rossini, Verdi, Mascagni and other Italian composers, along with such popular favorites as “Santa Lucia,” “O sole mio,” “Volare” and more.

Directing this group of Vienna Boys Choir members is Manolo Cagnin. Cagnin, born Treviso, Italy, entered this position in 2008 and prepares the boys for sound and video recordings, masses and the Vienna State Opera. “They possess character and spirit,” Cagnin said. “This is reflected in the way they make music. The children learn from me, and I learn from them.”

The choir has toured to many places such as Vietnam, China, Singapore, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, North and South America.

The Vienna Boys Choir is a private, not-for-profit organization that has been recording music since the 1930s. In close association with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Boys Choir provides the music for the Sunday Mass in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel.

Reserved seating and general admission tickets for Vienna Boys Choir are available at hesstonbethel.org or by calling 620-327-8105. Single tickets are for sale at Bethel College’s Thresher Shop in Schultz Student Center and in the Hesston College Bookstore during regular business hours. Ticket prices range from $25 to $29 with discounts for students and senior citizens.

The Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts series is a collaborative effort of Hesston College and Bethel College, presenting 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, the Hesston Community Foundation and area patrons.

Hesston College Theatre to open season with look at responding to disabilities

Hesston College Theatre will present five performances of “And They Dance Real Slow in Jackson” by Jim Leonard, Jr., as the fall play Oct. 25 to 29, in the Keim Center Black Box Theater on the Hesston College campus.

Showtimes are 7 p.m., Oct. 25 to 28, as well as a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Oct. 29. The play is rated PG13 for language and difficult themes. Children are not recommended to attend.

Based in Jackson, Ind., “And They Dance Real Slow in Jackson” centers on a young woman named Elizabeth Willow who, due to her exposure to polio as an infant, uses a wheelchair and wears leg braces and feels bound by those elements of her life. She is a wonderfully bright and capable girl, but that potential is unseen by many. Adults pity her, children fear her and the few people who are willing to allow Elizabeth in their lives keep her at arm’s length, anxious at what others may think.

“The story is a familiar struggle, but our world still can’t seem to get it right,” said director Rachel Jantzi. “This show wrestles with how we treat those we don’t fully understand and the consequences for one young woman when that understanding isn’t offered.”

The Hesston College production stars 7 students, but 4 of the 7 portray 28 characters between them. “The script is not an easy one,” Jantzi said. But she hopes to provide a new experience for both actors and audience members after last year’s theme: “A season of laughter.”

Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children. Tickets can be purchased through the Hesston College Bookstore in person, by phone at 620-327-8104 or online. Purchasing tickets in advance is recommended. Tickets will be available at the door 30 minutes prior to show time and are subject to availability.

Coach Gerry Sieber to retire at end of cross country season

Runner’s World magazines dating back to the 1970s are piled high around his office. Team photos hang on the wall. And there, in the middle of all the memories, sits Gerry Sieber, reminiscing on his lifelong love for athletics and his 30 years at Hesston College, now coming to an end.

Sieber will retire after this year’s cross country season, but his coaching career at Hesston College goes far beyond that sport. Sieber has coached soccer, basketball, track and field and cross country. He has even taught wellness classes and served as athletic director for the college. The race has been long, but not without reward.

In 2015, Sieber was inducted into the NJCAA Soccer Hall of Fame as the longtime mentor of the Larks’ winningest program. in 23 seasons his teams tallied 247 wins and ten region titles, 22 players earned NJCAA All-American honors and Sieber was named Coach of the Year eight times. He says he draws on much more than strategy in the game.

“We had success, we won a lot of games, a lot of championships. But the thrill of getting a lot of students together was this idea of 11 becoming one. Winning was pretty important, but there are a lot of other things that make it meaningful: The growth of the players and the development of the whole person.”

Sadie Winter, a sophomore cross country runner, witnesses this daily.

“Gerry works very hard to build community and accountability within the team,” she says. “He wants the team to be connected and supportive. He doesn’t just work on improving our running, he also stresses the importance of academics, overall physical health and spiritual growth.”

Sieber has always stayed true to the idea of growth on and off the field, taking teams on service trips to Argentina and Puerto Rico and leading some of Hesston’s experiential learning trips to Arkansas and Colorado.

After graduating from Hesston College (‘64) and then Goshen College (‘66), Sieber headed to Tabor College (Hillsboro) to teach physical education and to coach. But after two years as a Tabor Bluejay, positions opened at Hesston College for a head soccer, basketball, and track coach. Sieber returned to his old stomping grounds to be a Lark.

“Because of my love for sports and playing, I was drawn into the vocation of coaching and teaching,” Sieber said. “The fact that I went to Hesston and had played sports at Hesston made this a natural progression.”

He dabbled in many sports while at Hesston, but Sieber calls soccer “his main sport.”

Coaching at Bethel College (North Newton) in between his time at Hesston College (1994 to 2009), Sieber continued to coach men’s soccer, started the women’s soccer program, coached track and field and launched the cross country team for the Threshers.

And that is where Sieber finds himself in his last coaching season: with the Hesston College men’s and women’s cross country team.

The Larks cross country team boasts a women’s group Sieber says is the strongest he’s ever had the privilege of coaching.

“This is my last coaching ‘dance,’” he said. “I haven’t told the team this, but I really want it to be a good dance. And I think it will be.”

When the season ends, Sieber will continue to stay active through racquetball, biking and swimming. He plans to spend time with family, travel and volunteer.

Summarizing 30 years of coaching at Hesston College and 49 years of coaching is not easily done, but Sieber continues to express his gratitude and humbleness to have had the opportunities to teach, coach and mentor young adults.

“I feel truly privileged, stretched, humbled and grateful for the opportunity to teach, coach, mentor and serve as a role model to young adults,” Sieber said.

“I am blessed to be the recipient of so many wonderful experiences with so many wonderful people. And to have been surrounded, supported and mentored with the communities I have been a part of. Thank you to my family, church, friends, the town of Hesston, the school’s alumni and faculty, staff and administrators.”

by Mackenzie Miller ’18, Matthew Gerlach contributing writer