campus news & events

Colby-Sawyer Singers Present Their Spring Concert, "A Poetic Journey"

NEW LONDON, N.H., April 21, 2008 – The Colby-Sawyer Fine and Performing Arts Department will present its spring concert, “A Poetic Journey,” with the Colby-Sawyer Singers.

A vocal group comprised of students and community members, the Colby-Sawyer College Singers will perform under the direction of Susan Cancio-Bello in the Sawyer Center Theater of the Sawyer Fine Arts Center on the Colby-Sawyer campus on Thursday, May 1 at 7 p.m. The event is free and the public is welcome to attend.

The theme for this year's concert is “A Poetic Journey” and every piece featured is based on poems about life: “Songs from the Shore - Sea Shell and The Trout” by Massachusetts poet Amy Lowell; “Three Shakespeare Settings” by William Shakespeare; “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, and “Exhilaration is the Breeze” and “Fame Is A Fickle Food” by Emily Dickinson, among others. Members of the group will be featured as soloists, and Cancio-Bello promises that a surprise finale is in store for the audience.

Dianalee Velie, a poet from nearby Newbury, N.H,. will serve as the emcee for the event. Velie is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and has her Master of Arts in Writing from Manhattanville College, where she has also served as the faculty advisor to the Inkwell Magazine. She has taught classes in poetry, memoir, and short story at several universities and colleges in New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, as well as in private workshops across the Northeast region. Velie's award-winning poetry and short stories have been published in several literary journals throughout the United States and Canada.

Director Susan Cancio-Bello has a bachelor's degree in music and a master's degree in counseling, both from Appalachian State University. She also has a Music Therapy Certification from the University of Miami. Prior to her work with the Colby-Sawyer Singers, Cancio-Bello volunteered at local schools and libraries, organized the New Hampshire Troubadours, and participated in the vocal group Folk Fusion.


Colby-Sawyer, founded in 1837, is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire. Our students learn in small classes through a select array of programs that integrate the liberal arts and sciences with pre-professional experience.

Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000.