SPRINGFIELD – The Lincoln Land Community College Recital Series continues Sunday, Nov. 23 with a performance by Kapello vocal ensemble.
The performance begins at 4 p.m. in the Trutter Centerat LLCC’s Springfield campus, and is free and open to the public.
The group will perform “Plenty Good Room,” “The Word Was God,” Pater Noster,” “Ave Maria,” “Loch Lomond” and “All the Pretty Little Horses.”
This will be Lincoln Land Recital Series first performance of what is hoped many.
Kapello is a vocal ensemble created by Damien Kaplan and Stephen Rotello. The group’s purpose is to explore, perform and enjoy a wide variety of choral and other vocal music – some a cappella.
Kapello includes a group of vocalists with a range of experience. It includes choral singing (symphonic, church and otherwise), opera, musical theater and voice teaching.
Kapello features vocalists Diane Dietz and Mary Matheny (soprano 1), Kari Jones and Lou Ann Reichle Mack (soprano 2), Meredith Durall and Claire Gordon (Alto 1), Lucy Dalton-Lackie and Sue Hamilton (alto 2), Michael Beckman and Kaplan (tenor 1), Rotello and Christopher Wise (tenor 2), DJ Shultz and Kris Stenson (baritone), and Kevin Ford and Terry Schoppenhorst (bass).
Kaplan is the choir director at Springfield High School. He is an accomplished musician known as a percussionist, pianist (half of “Dual Piano”), band leader, pit orchestra player and conductor, musical theater vocal director, church musician and stage performer.
A graduate of Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, he studied music at Lincoln Land with Jane Hartman and Sue Hamilton before earning a bachelor’s degree in music education from Illinois State University.
Rotello is a product of the choral program at the University of Illinois, where he sang in various choral groups and small ensembles.
He began conducting church choirs 40 years ago and has served as vocal director for many local musical theater productions.
He has sung with the (then) Springfield Symphony Chorus, the Springfield Choral Society, and the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. He founded the Capital Chamber Singers.
Other upcoming performances in the LLCC Recital Series include:
- Dec. 7: Five Flute Chamber Music, featuring Abigail Walsh
- Jan. 25: Skibbereen Celtic Influenced Music
- Feb. 1: River Ramblers bluegrass
- March 22: Brick House Brass Quintet
- April 19: Jane Hartman Jazz Trio
