TROY , Ala. – The Troy University Choral Alumni Association will honor the retirement of longtime music professor Dr. William R. Denison with a community performance of selections from Handel’s Messiah on March 12. The performance, which will be directed by Dr. Denison, will be presented at 3:30 p.m. in the Claudia Crosby Theater on the Troy Campus.

All choral alumni and interested members of the community are invited to sing in the chorus. Rehearsals are scheduled for March 12 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 121 of Smith Hall and 1:30 p.m. on stage in the Claudia Crosby Theater. The Choral Alumni Association will also meet for a business meeting at 11 a.m. in Room 121, Smith Hall.

Immediately following the concert, a reception honoring Dr. Denison and Earl Hutto, this year’s winner of the Distinguished Leadership Award, will be held in the lobby of the Trojan Center ballrooms. The annual reunion dinner and dance, presented by the Troy University Alumni Association, will follow in the Trojan Center ballrooms. Cost for the dinner and dance is $20 per person and reservations must be made in advance. To make reservations, call (334) 670-3318.

Dr. Denison will retire at the end of the 2004-05 academic year after 37 years of service to Troy University . From 1971-1998, Dr. Denison directed Troy University ’s Collegiate Singers and the Madrigal Singers and conducted annual winter performances of major choral works for more than 25 years.

Since being appointed director of the John M. Long School of Music in 1998, Dr. Denison has remained active with Collegiate Singers as associate conductor. He continues to teach music theory, piano and organ, and also serves as a liaison between Troy University and the Troy Arts Council. An active adjudicator of various choral festivals in the state, Dr. Denison has professional memberships in the American Choral Directors Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa Association of Southeast Alabama, Music Educators National Conference and the Alabama Association of College Music Administrators.

A native of Michigan , Dr. Denison received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan and completed his doctorate degree at Florida State University . He serves as organist and director of music at St. Mark’s Episcopal and at First Presbyterian churches in Troy and is the conductor of the Troy Community Chorus. He and his wife, Jane, have two sons, Joey and Rae, both graduates of Troy University .