Suspicious Cheese Lords choral group performs at Staples Family Concert Hall
Singer Dan Ebeling sees The Suspicious Cheese Lords as somewhat of a fraternity.
The group first met in 1996 and has since given private performances for the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees as well as Pope Benedict XVI. The School of Music welcomed the choral music group to Staples Family Concert Hall Friday night.
“We combine the social aspect and the fact that we are all friends,” said Ebeling, a member of the group since its founding in 1996. “That enhances our music.”
The group originated in Washington, D.C and Friday was their first time performing in Michigan.
“This is special because it is an out-of-state performance and we don’t do it as much,” said Christopher Fominaya, member of the Suspicious Cheese Lords for five years.
Member George Cervantes was pleased with the Staples facility.
“The hall and the acoustic were fantastic to sing in,” Cervantes said. “You never know what you are going to get but this was very nice.”
It took a lot of rehearsal time for the group to get ready for their first performance in Michigan, Ebeling said.
“We usually rehearse once a week”, he said. “During concerts, we rehearse during the weekend. This is our first concert of the year so we spent a lot of time during the summer rehearsing.”
The first half of the two-hour show featured “Ave Verum Corpus” by Jean L’heritier and “Fortuna Desperata” by Alexander Agricola.
The second half of the show included music from unfamiliar artists such as “Ave Maria” by Anton Bruckner and “If Ye Love Me” by Philip Stopford, but also included music composed by the group.
John Jacobson, director of music events, was one of several faculty involved in bringing the group to CMU.
“The music school does about 350 shows a year, of which of those 15 are guest artists”, Jacobson said. “We are able to have this because of our collaboration with the American Choral Directors Association.”
