Four-day Fountain tribute recognizes late conductor

Choral concert, other events to pay tribute

Under the baton of internationally renowned maestro Robert Shaw, the combined voices of the Oberlin College Choir, Musical Union and a 150-voice alumni choir will perform in tribute to late choral conductor and pedagogue Robert Fountain on Nov. 9.

Next weekend's four-day tribute will include a reception, dinner, classes, lectures and social gatherings open rehearsals and the concert. The proceeds from these events will go to a Fountain endowed scholarship fund for students whose career aspirations lie in the performance and conducting of choral music.

Fountain, once characterized by the New York Times as "the finest and most enterprising choral conductor now working in an American conservatory," died on May 19 at his home in Oberlin after a long illness. The large alumni community who worked with him mourn his death. "I respected him uniquely," said Shaw, a close friend and colleague of Fountain's.

During his 22-year career at Oberlin, the Conservatory's choral program took its place among the nation's foremost. The College Choir toured regularly throughout the United States, and in 1964 made a highly acclaimed and publicized tour of the former Soviet Union and Rumania, giving 40 concerts in 55 days under the auspices of the U.S. State Department.

Additionally, Fountain arranged for the College Choir to sing at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., in response to the shootings at Kent State University in 1970. The Choir also made frequent appearances at Town Hall and Lincoln Center in New York and on radio and television programs.

Fountain's manifold personal achievements attest to his strong musical leadership and humanitarian endeavors. Fountain was the recipient of many honors including the degree Doctorate of Music, honoris causa from Mount Union College,where he also served on the faculty, in 1964 and from Wooster College in 1987. He also received the Alumni Medal for Distinguished Service to Oberlin College, awarded to him by the Oberlin Alumni Association in 1988.

Shaw, slated to conduct the finale of next week's events in honor of Fountain, is no stranger to chorally related honors himself. As Music Director Emeritus and Conductor Laureate of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Shaw is delighted to have the opportunity to take part in such an exciting event.

While Shaw was on the Oberlin campus in May 1995 to receive an honorary degree from the Conservatory, he and Ed MacLary, Director of both the College Choir and Musical Union, suggested to Dean of the Conservatory Karen Wolff that a benefit concert be held in celebration of Fountain's life and contributions to the elevation of the status of the choral arts in the U.S.

For MacLary, the event serves a dual purpose. In addition to being a tribute, he sees it as an excellent opportunity for Oberlin students to work in an intense manner with the other phenomenal choral conductor of the century. "I'm confident that it will be a spectacular concert," he said after commenting on the challenge involved in working with a group of 165 people. The music "requires both flexibility and transparency" on the part of the ensemble, a difficult task to achieve with such a large group.

The concert will include the chorus, Wach auf! from Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, a jubilant celebration of music and country, Mozart's Ave, verum corpus, expressively perfect in its simplicity and directness, Haydn's triumphant Mass in D-minor "Lord Nelson" and Stravinsky's powerfully reverent Symphony of Psalms. The memorial concert will be held Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. in Finney Chapel.