Rutgers Newark Conductor to Lead Final Holiday Concert Series

Floreen will take his last bow and retire as chorus director at the end of the 2014-2015 academic year.

Back in 1979, when Floreen first assumed the job of chorus director, there were barely any students in the student chorus. But under his leadership, the Chorus has flourished, performing nine international tours as well as scores of concerts on campus and in the Greater Newark area, delighting audiences on two continents. He and the chorus also have released six CD recordings of their performances, helping to make their talents known internationally.

Floreen is a music professor in the Rutgers Newark Department of Arts, Culture and Media, and coordinator of the undergraduate music program.

At the December holiday concerts the Chorus will perform carols as well as African-American, Hispanic and Hebrew folksongs, along with works by Andrew Carter, John Joubert, Michael Rose, John Rutter, and Pietro Jon.

The holiday schedule consists of three concerts, all open to the public:

Sunday, December 7

• 3:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Abbey Church located at 528 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark, NJ 07834.
• Tickets: $25 (preferred seating); $10 (general admission); $5, students and seniors.

Monday, December 8

• 11:30 a.m. in the Paul Robeson Center Art Gallery (1st floor) located at 350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark.
• Free Admission

Wednesday, Dec. 10

• 2:30 p.m. in the Bradley Hall Lounge, Bradley Hall located at 392 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark, NJ, 07102.
• Free Admission

During his distinguished career as a teacher and scholar, Floreen has received numerous fellowships and grants, including three Fulbright Scholar Awards for Music Research in Austria. In 2000 and 2002 he conducted choirs and taught conducting at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Chengdu, China. In recognition of his assistance in organizing a “Western type” choral program, the Sichuan Conservatory conferred on Floreen the title of Honorary Professor of Music.

Floreen’s edition of Hummel’s Mass in B-flat, published by Oxford University Press, received the American Choral Directors Association Award for Excellence in Research and Editing.

Floreen has served on the Music Panel of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and has also made two CD recordings with Westminster Choir College’s Oratorio Choir, Princeton, N.J.

Assistant Conductor Susan McAdoo also will be resigning after the Spring 2015 semester. She has taught music at RU-N for the past 30 years and has served as assistant conductor since 1997. However, Floreen and McAdoo will lead the Chorus through its 2014 holiday concert schedule as well as its spring 2015 schedule, including special concerts in May 2015.

Information courtesy of Rutgers Newark Office of Communications