16 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN University Choral Arts—an umbrella term for the Lehigh University Choir, Lehigh Choral Union, the tenor-bass Glee Club and Dolce, the treble choir. He founded the Lehigh Summer Choral Composers Forum, which brings aspiring composers from around the world to Lehigh every summer. “The program seemed like there was a lot of room for growth,” says Sametz. “I don’t know that the university anticipated the growth that would happen. It was a wide-open playing field. Nobody had any expectations, and we could dream big.” As founding director of the Lehigh Choral Union in 1985, Sametz created a successful community outreach program that brings students, faculty, staff and community members together for several concerts a year. Over a hundred community members come to campus every Monday for rehearsal. One is Peter Stinson ’91 ’01G, who is now serving as manager of the Choral Union. An engineering and management student who is now a semiconductor design manager, he knows firsthand the opportunities Sametz provided for those interested in music. “All of us were majoring in something else,” he recalled, “but we enjoyed singing as a group and doing these incredibly challenging pieces that we wouldn’t have gotten the chance to do if we had gone somewhere else.” Sametz is the Ronald J. Ulrich Professor of Music, one of two endowed chairs in music. He was instrumental in establishing the Cutler-Sametz Choral Arts Scholarships for students, as well as garnering important support for the choral program from Robert Teufel ’59; Peter Finkel ’81; the Sebastian family in memory of their son, Bear Sebastian ’92; Dan Franceski ’64; Robert Shabaker ’59; and the Pervall family in memory of Stephanie Pervall ’85. Affectionately known as “Doc” to his students, Sametz has taken the choir around the world. He has led choral arts in performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Geffen Hall in New York. The final hurrah will be in May, when he leads Lehigh choral participants and alumni on a nineday concert tour of Portugal. “It’s always great to see alumni who want to come back and sing with us and share the gift of Lehigh University with audiences everywhere,” he says. “The choral alumni list is second only to the athletic department. It’s one of our lasting legacies.” Outside of Lehigh, Sametz has been the director of the elite a cappella chamber choir The Princeton Singers for 25 of its 40 years. The choir has been artist-in-residence at Lehigh. Sametz is a renowned choral composer with commissions from around the world. The 2023-24 concert season is in itself a tribute to Salerni and Sametz. The LUVME concert in September featured music written by and for the Salerni family during COVID, including a piece by Sametz. Sametz’s Princeton Singers performed twice, premiering a new work by Sametz in October. A major work for chorus and orchestra by Sametz was on the October program of Lehigh Choral Arts. The Philharmonic concerts in February, “Italian Fables,” featured three pieces composed by Salerni, with text by Dana Gioia, former California Poet Laureate, with whom Salerni has often collaborated. Two March concerts by the Choir, Glee Club and Dolce were a “Best Of,” and featured a premiere of Sametz’s colorful “Strange Music,” with new choreography by Horger Artist-in-Residence Michael Spencer Phillips. About 100 alumni returned in Steven Sametz is a renowned choral composer with commissions from around the world. The choral alumni list is second only to the athletic department. It’s one of our lasting legacies. —STEVEN SAMETZ CHRISTA NEU
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