Richmond native Lauren Manns will embark this month on a 16-day concert tour of Europe, performing with the Peace College Chamber Singers throughout Spain, France and Italy. 

Manns, a junior at the four-year baccalaureate college located in downtown Raleigh, will join fellow members of the college’s premier vocal ensemble as well as Peace staff, faculty and friends of the college on an excursion to such European cities as Barcelona, Spain, the French Riviera’s Côte d’Azur as well as Florence and Rome, Italy.

Manns performs as a soprano with the 19-member student ensemble directed by Peace College Associate Professor of Music James Smith. Pursuing a communication major with a concentration in mass communication, she joined the choir in August 2005 and is the daughter of M. Lisa Payne and Robert Manns of Richmond.

The group departs Raleigh on May 21. The singers’ first stop is in Barcelona, Spain, where they will perform a full concert at the city’s Gothic Cathedral. Other performance venues include the Basilica in Montserrat, Spain, Notre-Dame des Tables in Montpelier, France, as well as Notre-Dame des Port in Nice, France.

Two highlights of the tour include performances in Italy, first in the revered Duomo in Florence and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

“We are thrilled to have received such an auspicious invitation,” said Smith. “This will be a fitting conclusion to our trip, and no doubt it will be an occasion that the students will never forget.”

The singers will present a selection of songs ranging from Gregorian chants to 20th Century spirituals. The group also will sing in numerous languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, German and Latin.

Peace College’s music department sponsors a European tour every three years so that student singers have an opportunity to travel abroad once in their Peace careers. Students receive monetary support for their travel from the college’s Ragland Travel Fund.

Peace College is a four-year baccalaureate arts and sciences college that offers a challenging program of study that provides women strong intellectual and personal foundations upon which to build successful and meaningful professional and academic careers. Peace’s educational program consistently earns the college rankings in the top 10 percent in several categories of the National Survey of Student Engagement.

For more information about Peace College, visit http://www.peace.edu. 

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