by Andrew Floor
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is celebrating its Founder’s Day as well as performing its annual Fall American Music Recital at 5:15 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 6 in Huntington Recital Hall in the Conservatory of Music.
The Founder’s Day Ceremony is in honor of Ossian Everett Mills, the fraternity’s founding father, who created the fraternity with the goal of advancing music in America.
The ceremony is open to the public and will consist of members reciting fraternal readings that either Mills or other members of the fraternity have written since its founding in 1898.
According to senior and Phi Mu Alpha’s Province Council Representative, Alex Knerem, the current ceremony is based off of a memorial service done at Mill’s gravesite in 1998.
“The founder’s day ceremony really captures what Father Mill’s ideals were and what Phi Mu Alpha stands for, which is not just being musicians and advancing music in America.
It’s also about developing true fraternal spirit and mutual welfare of musical students and a loyalty to the university’s alma mater,” Knerem said.
“I like that it’s a public ceremony. It’s a great way for us to communicate our ideals to others.”
Senior and President of Phi Mu Alpha, Brian Hupp, expressed excitement that the ceremony and recital were happening on the same day and discussed that because it falls on Capital’s Homecoming, and many alumni from the fraternity could be there for the events.
“Recital was one thing we tried to pair with the ceremony this year, and it was really good timing.
We invited a lot of alumni to the ceremony and to the recital to help make it more of a community event for homecoming,” Hupp said.
“Immediately after the ceremony, the recital will begin,” Senior and Secretary and Historian of Phi Mu Alpha, Sam Schlievert, said.
“We will be singing a poppy acapella version of ‘Brown Eyed Girl,’ a barbershop cortet, as well as classic American literature and musical theater songs.”
The American Music Recital is done to advance Phi Mu Alpha’s main goal of advancing music in America and will feature both classic and contemporary American musicians and performers.
afloor@capital.edu
