The flagship vocal ensemble of the Greatbatch School of Music, Houghton’s College Choir, recently returned from their 2018 Mid-Atlantic Tour and now offer all of Houghton the chance to hear their music. This exciting, well-rehearsed program will be performed at the College Choir’s Homecoming concert tomorrow, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Wesley Chapel. The concert runs for about 90 minutes.
Houghton’s College Choir is an audition-only ensemble, open to sophomores and above. Dr. Daniel David Black, a Houghton graduate school alumni from Minnesota serves as manager and conductor for the choir. Dr. Black encourages students from all majors to participate in auditions, which generally happen at the end of each semester. Third-year graduate student and assistant conductor Jerome Bell managed this most recent tour.
In preparation for the tour and their other performances, the ensemble meets for 1 hour, 5 days a week to rehearse their demanding repertoire. The choir had a relatively short amount of time to learn, rehearse, and memorize the 17 advanced pieces they performed while on tour.
Despite the challenge, the choir’s repertoire was generally popular with the ensemble. Many appreciated the traditional, familiar component of the pieces, although they also pointed out where the music went beyond what could be found in any church.
Lauren Grifoni ’19, who sings soprano with the choir, stated, “The theme of the tour was congregational singing, so most of the pieces were arrangements of old hymn tunes. I really like it because a lot of the music was familiar to me; stuff I grew up with singing in church but also in a newer style.”
Many of those in the choir agreed that the tour was exhausting. Many of them joke about how they don’t get a spring break, but they still find it gratifying. It is worth noting that many of the vocalists are also participating in Lyric Theatre’s spring show Oklahoma!, taking place in just a few short weeks. This means that many of the choir members are memorizing lines for two large productions and participating in multiple rehearsals every day.
Several of the pieces from the tour repertoire benefited from the addition of instruments. For the sake of efficiency, some students during the tour served as accompanists, in addition to singing in the choir.
When asked about this year’s tour and repertoire, music education major Michaella Alliperti ’19 exclaimed, “Tour was wonderful! It was just so wholesome and spiritually invigorating, as was the rep. We had a lot of time to reflect on what the words mean to us in relation to our lives. It was full of wonderful friendship and fellowship. Last year’s tour was great, but this year’s was even better.”
They traveled by bus through the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Ohio on their 14-stop tour. Each night, the choir stayed and fellowshipped with various families. The quality of these visits is often a highlight of the tour for the ensemble. When asked about these homestays, Kingsley Kolek ’18 said, “You just never know what you’re gonna get!”
When asked how he felt about tour, Derek Chase ’19 said, “As primarily an instrumentalist, it was exhausting yet rewarding to be on a vocal tour. Since this is Houghton, we all kind of knew each other already, but it was great to become closer friends with people you don’t know that well.”