WHEATON, Ill. (AP) – A suburban Chicago college is adding a 648-seat concert hall as part of an expansion that officials say will also bring “grand performances” and new choral works to the campus.
The Daily Herald reports Wheaton College, a private Christian college west of Chicago, will break ground later this month on a $32 million project at the Armerding Center for Music and the Arts.
Wheaton College President Philip Ryken says a faculty position for sacred music will be named after famed conductor John Nelson and his late wife. Nelson is a 1963 graduate who specializes in sacred compositions.
The college also has secured funding for the new John and Anita Nelson Center for Sacred Music. Ryken says the program will commission new choral works based on biblical texts.