Collegiate Singers Alumni Newsletter Fall 2023

 

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 member of an extended family!

Some updates, and a few pictures about the Singers over the past year: 

Fall 2022

• In November, I and a handful of alumni were invited to Ghana to sing at a festival of choral music. We spent a week in the country and were privileged to sing for the Asantahene, King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II as he sat in court in Kumasi. It was a privilege we won't soon forget (and which merits and entire blog entry of its own).

Winter 2023

• The combined choirs and orchestra joined forces to perform Beethoven's 9th in Rexburg and in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, with alumni Andrew Peck, Elizabeth Peters, Alex Purser and Audrey Lambert as our four soloists! In connection with the concert, we got to hang out with a great group of alumni in the food court of the mall!

 

• The choir returned to Music and the Spoken Word after a COVID absence. It was one of our better performances, really nice singing, and we got to sing with the Orchestra this time, which was a special treat!

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• In April we toured to Oklahoma and Texas, including stops in Lubbock, San Antonio, and Uvalde (site of a school shooting just one year ago). That was a particularly tender performance, which we shared with the Sinfonietta. It marked the first time in about 23 years that the two groups shared part of a tour.

  

  

In Spring we had a little different choir experience, which began with a collaboration with “The Kindness,” a jazz trio. The choir learned to sing jazz and gospel styles and also explored Renaissance madrigals and motets. We also explored choral improvisation and audience participation—two elements that have persisted in this year’s concerts. It was a great group which was open to experimentation and stretching, and I had a ball.

• This semester, the Collegiate Singers are on break but I am conducting the Concert Choir, which for all intents and purposes is acting as Collegiate Singers. It’s a strong sounding and great feeling group. We joined the other choirs in performing at the Inauguration of our new University President, Alvin F. Meredith III, and in December will perform in the BYU-Idaho Christmas show, featuring Adassa (voice of Dolores in Disney’s Encanto. It’s going to be a show worth traveling for, if you are in the neighborhood.

• Next semester we are thrilled to present the next installment of the Sacred Music series, entitled “That They Might Have Joy” by Texas composer Ethan Wickman. 

• Finally, we continue to work on new albums of music and have released recent work and past Sacred Music oratorios to streaming platforms. Coming soon: The Redeemer (Cundick) and How Beautiful Upon the Mountains (Gawthrop)!

That's it for now. I hope the next edition of this newsletter will be better formatted and more attractive but blogging is not one of my current superpowers. I'm sure someone will jump in and help me after wading through this one.

Much love,

BroK