Collegiate Singers Newsletter

  Singing for a King: My Journeys in Ghana In November 2022, I and a small choir of BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers alumni were honored to sing for the Asantahene, His Royal Majesty King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, chief of the Asanti people in Ghana. It was an experience none of us will soon forget. Our visit added, I hope, another brick to the bridge already growing between BYU-Idaho, the Church, and the people of Ghana.  A BYU-Idaho choir director in the Asante chief’s court To understand how I ended up singing for an African tribal king, some background is in order, especially for those whose awareness of Ghana is limited to knowing that it’s a small West African nation which was once a major crossroads for the slave trade, and that their national men’s soccer team has a habit of knocking the United States out of the World Cup. It’s also known to Latter-day Saints as one of the first post-1978 hot spots of Church growth in Africa. (Don’t worry, that was also the extent of my person...

  Collegiate Singers Alumni Newsletter Fall 2023  Dear Singers Family, I have said to most of you (and I’m sure Kevin Brower did as well) that once you are a Collegiate Singer, you are a member of the family for life. That will mean different things to different people, but for me it means:  I think of each one of you as one of my dear friends, with whom I shared beautiful music and many beautiful memories.  It means that regardless of when you were in the group, I feel connected to you through our shared experiences and through the shared meanings of the music we sang together.  It means that if you are traveling and happen to pass through Rexburg, I have a spare room you are welcome to use while you are in town and a place at my table.  It means that regardless of where your life’s journey has taken you, I love you and respect you and wish you happiness and joy as you make your way through life.  …and everything else that goes along with being a memb...