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Today’s performance marks the second-straight year Bel Canto will have closed out the Music as Medicine series. The group’s perfect harmonies brought tears to the eyes of many who attended Bel Canto’s 2007 UNMC performance.
Bel Canto — which is Italian for “beautiful singing” — is the most advanced ensemble within the Nebraska Choral Arts Society’s (NCAS) Nebraska Children’s Chorus. The ensemble’s annual repertoire includes approximately 40 memorized works in as many as eight languages. Bel Canto’s performances are regarded for their unique sonority and meticulous tuning, as well as distinctive literature and commitment to the composer’s intent.
The choir performs frequently with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra and comparable organizations and has toured throughout the world. Bel Canto has performed in Austria, the Baltic States, the British Isles, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Japan, France, South Africa, Switzerland and Russia. They will tour Mexico later this month.
Bel Canto is directed by Dr. Sean Burton, an assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa. Under Dr. Burton’s leadership, Bel Canto has performed internationally and at major national conventions, and has released a live recording titled “Reflections.”
Several of the Bel Canto members who will perform today have UNMC ties, including:
- Kathryn Coccia — daughter of Peter Coccia, M.D., the Ittner Professor of Pediatrics, and Phyllis Warkentin, M.D., a professor of pediatrics – who is in her 11th and final year in the NCAS and eighth year in Bel Canto;
- Priya Srivats — the daughter of Mohan Mysore, M.D., a pediatric intensivist at UNMC — who is in her 11th year in the NCAS and sixth year in Bel Canto;
- Anmarie Van Wetering — the daughter of Carmen Sirizzotti, division director of UNMC Employee Relations — who is in her sixth year in the NCAS and fourth year in Bel Canto;
- Lauren Sveum — the daughter of Tammy Sveum, staff nurse in the surgery department of The Nebraska Medical Center — who is in her fourth year with NCAS and her second year with Bel Canto;
- Laura Newton — whose grandmother Ruth Howell and uncle Doug Lorence are both regular volunteers at UNMC — has sung with Bel Canto for five years.
The College of Medicine is the sponsor of Bel Canto’s performance.