On October 9, the Viterbo University performing arts community gathered together for a once-in-a-lifetime event. A Gala Concert celebrating the 70th anniversary of the music department and the 50th anniversary of the Fine Arts Center was held for a substantial crowd in the Main Theatre.  

  The one-night performance featured all three of Viterbo’s traditional music ensembles—Concert Choir, Rose Chorale, and Ninth Street Singers—led by the new Director for Choral Activities, Dr. James Wilson. Conducting the Alumni Choir—a mass choir of the ensembles and more than 50 music-involved alumni—was recently-titled Professor Emeritus Dan Johnson-Wilmot, who is not far off from 50 years with the institution. His career and contributions to the university over his tenure thus far were celebrated along with his recent retirement from full-time teaching.  

In the course of the concert, the tenure of Johnson-Wilmot’s longtime colleague, Judy Stafslien, a coach-accompanist for the music department, received her own spotlight. Also recognized during the program were the achievements of three Distinguished Alumni Award recipients in 2021. 

The award recipients from the School of Performing Arts (now the Conservatory for the Performing Arts) were Avery Boettcher ’15 (Rising Professional), Arbender Robinson ’98 (Service to the University), and Lindsey Giese ’07 (Professional Achievement). Robinson and Giese both graduated with degrees in Theatre, with Boettcher earning a degree in Music. Boettcher and Robinson both performed solo pieces on the concert program—an opera aria and a Broadway ballad, respectively. 

These pieces accompanied a diverse grouping of choral works that included composers from modern choral conductor Craig Hella Johnson (b. 1962) to Renaissance polyphony champion William Byrd (1543-1623). Other notable pieces included Moses Hogan’s rousing rendition of “Glory, Glory, Glory to the Newborn King”—which featured Robinson as soloist—and the emotional mass choir finisher, “Make our Garden Grow,” the finale from Leonard Bernstein’s opera, “Candide.” Music and stage direction were provided by professor Nancy Allen ’84, with Dr. Mary Ellen Haupert of the music department officiating. 

The hour and a half of music and ceremony was followed by a fall-themed reception in the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Lobby, featuring cakes baked by Dan Johnson-Wilmot and hors d’oeuvres provided by Viterbo’s own dining service team and Aramark. Due to copyright concerns, the concert was not officially recorded, but the memories of the experience will surely live on in the minds of audience members and performers for many years to come.