Join us for an evening of choral music featuring the award winning Columbus International Children's Choir directed by Tatiana Kats and her colleagues.

This choir has performed at the Vatican,Carenegie Hall, and the White House in past years. It has just completed a tour in Greece.

"I'm a big fan of CICC. Tatiana Kats and her colleagues provide superb musicianship and a love of kids. What could be better? I always love hearing the choir and featuring them on Classical 101's Music in Mid Ohio. Rock ON!" 

Christopher Purdy

WOSU PublicMedia/Classical 101

To simplify registration, if  you would like to  participate in all classes without the concert, resiter here.

This is going to be quite an exciting year!

This year's series is full of great learning opportunities. If you would like to participate in all of our classes, register here for all classes.

Friday, October 3 and Monday, October 6

The Caribbean is a zone of remarkable religious diversity, characterized by creative responses to, and negotiations of, a history of colonial conquest, slavery and foreign exploitation. This class will offer a broad survey of Caribbean history and culture as well as the first encounters between indigenous Taino and Carib peoples and Spanish conquerors. It will address the Catholic theological debates on the status of indigenous peoples and Spanish economic interests fueling the rise of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The class will review three major case studies, including: the rise of Rastafari in Jamaica; the political use of Haitian Vodou and its role in the Haitian Revolution; and on contemporary Puerto Rico (the world’s oldest colony) and its range of cultural protests under a religious framework. Despite histories of oppression and marginalization, one will be reminded of the irrepressible human spirit expressed in rituals, music and dance towards visions of a more ideal reality.

Spencer Dew is an associate teaching professor in the departments of Comparative Studies and African American and African Studies at OSU.  He serves as short reviews editor for "Religious Studies Review," and is the author, most recently, of "The Aliites: Race and Law in the Religions of Noble Drew Ali,” the winner of the 2020 Raboteau Prize for Best Book in Africana Religions.

Marion Ramirez, a Puerto Rican dance artist, is immersed in the practice and pedagogy of somatics (dance as a tool for experiencing bodily agency, empathy and community building). Her movement research and choreographic work is informed by her diversity of dance training and performance experience in Puerto Rican experimental dance, flamenco, salsa, contemporary dance, ballet and contact improvisation, with extended residencies in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Europe, South Korea, and the US. She holds a BFA from The Laban Center, London and an MFA at Temple University.

October 9 and 10

For over 500 years, choral music has expressed humanity’s longing for community, for meaning and for a glimpse of the divine. This course will embark on a brief history of choral music and will look closely at some of the world’s most cherished pieces of choral art (including works of Mozart, Handel, Brahms and many others).  It even includes a little singing together in a class impromptu “Lift Every Voice” choir.  All will enjoy participating whether one who loves to sing, loves listening to choral music or just wants to learn more about this venerable and soul-refreshing art form.

Robert Bode, an Ohio resident, held choral faculty positions at several universities: Arizona State (2024-2025 Visiting Professor of Choral Music), Ohio State, Missouri–Kansas City and Whitman College. He is Artistic Director Emeritus of Choral Arts Northwest which, under his leadership, won a 2010 choral excellence award from Chorus America. He  performed at three American Choral Directors Association conferences with three different choirs; and he commissioned over 50 choral pieces from American composers. A prize-winning poet, Bode has written texts for more than 75 choral works by American composers; wrote a book of poetry (Crickets and Commas (2021) and a recent book on iconic choral works (Hearts All Whole: Reflections on Life and Twelve Choral Gems).

Lee D. Thompson, a collaborative pianist and vocal coach, held academic appointments at several university music schools: OSU (as Vocal Coach/Collaborative Pianist); Missouri-Kansas City; Baylor; and Whitman College (Professor of Music, Emeritus). He  served with the summer music staff and as pianist of the Santa Fe Opera; and was appointed an American cultural ambassador to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (by U.S. State Department) where he worked with the Mongolian National Opera. Internationally, Thompson has performed in concerts in England, Austria, Romania, Canada and China.