New Music Professorship at Furman University Established In Honor of Bingham and Judy Vick
March 20, 2011
$1.3 million pledged in support of professorship
GREENVILLE, SC – March 18, 2011 – Furman University has announced that a new professorship in music has been established in honor of longtime Furman Singers director Bingham Vick and his wife, Judy.
The Bingham L. Vick, Jr. and Judith S. Vick Professorship of Music will be awarded in perpetuity to the director of the Furman Singers. Hugh Ferguson Floyd, who joined the Furman Music Department as the Singers new director this past fall, is the first recipient.
The Vick professorship, established by the Furman Singers Alumni Association, was publicly announced at the March 15 Singers concert on campus. Thus far, a total of $1.3 million in gifts and pledges have been made in support of the professorship.
“The Bingham L. Vick, Jr. and Judith S. Vick Professorship of Music ensures the Furman Singers will forever benefit from the leadership of an outstanding choral conductor,” said Mark Britt, chair of the Furman Music Department. “It is also a wonderful way to acknowledge the monumental impact that Judy and Bing Vick have had on the Furman Singers.”
Bingham Vick served 40 years at Furman as coordinator of choral ensembles and director of the Furman Singers before retiring in 2010. In 1984 he received the Furman Meritorious Teacher of the Year Award and, in 2001, was awarded the Order of the Palmetto in recognition of his leadership in the arts in South Carolina. In 2004, he received the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award in the Arts.Vick is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Stetson University, his alma mater. He continues to serve as artistic director and conductor of the Greenville Chorale.
Judy Vick was also an integral part of the Furman Singers, serving as a mentor to the students and accompanying the group on many of their international and Southeastern tours. She entertained countless Furman guests, faculty members, trustees, parents and students in her home, and is the author of a collection of cooking recipes, Food for Singers, now in its fifth edition.
Founded in 1946 by DuPre Rhame and led by Vick from 1970 through 2010, the Furman Singers are recognized as one of America’s premier collegiate choirs. The Singers have won national and international acclaim with performances at conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, inaugurations of South Carolina governors and tours of the Southeast, Europe and the former Soviet Union.The Singers have performed national concerts with the Boston Pops, and they stage oratorios and other choral-orchestral works with the Furman Symphony Orchestra.
