As mid-semester break quickly approaches, Chapel Choir will be touring across the northeast performing in Pittsburgh, New York City, Baltimore, and Washington DC, with the highlight of their tour happening in New York with a debut performance and Masterworks performance at Carnegie Hall.
“When I think of Chapel Choir I think of it as really powerful … and so I’m excited to make some big impacts on people in the cities that we’re traveling to. I feel like we’re really going to make a difference in people’s lives,” said sophomore intervention specialist major Makenzie Karl.
The Chapel Choir will be performing music from their 2016 concert tour, “With All Your Heart,” which features music from the Baroque period to present day.
The theme of “With All Your Heart” was inspired by a poem by Christina Rossetti.
Lynda Hasseler, the director of choral activities and conductor of the program, said that texts from The Bible about loving God and your neighbor with all your were heart also a big part of the inspiration of the “With All Your Heart” tour.
“It’s generally pretty easy for academics to do things with all their mind, strength and will, but the hard part requires vulnerability and connection, and music wedded to this theme is a perfect combination,” Hasseler said. “Music is so powerful. It gets inside of us and opens us up.”
For junior music education major and president of Chapel Choir, Sarah Lockwood, she feels this theme has really connected the singers on a more personal level.
“I’ve noticed with the theme that it’s really bonded us more emotionally. And also where we’re going [to Carnegie Hall], there’s going to be a lot of people on stage and I think that brings a lot of excitement.”
While at Carnegie Hall, the Chapel Choir will have a solo performance and in the second half of the concert will be joined by the Choral Union, made up of community members and alumni, and three high school choirs, Dublin Jerome, Ottawa Hills in Toledo, and a school from Florida to perform Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” and Erik Esenvald’s “Trinity Te Deum.”
For junior education major Bobby Phillips, the tour is even more special, as he will be returning to his alma mater.
“I’ve been coordinating with my old high school director, which has been a lot of fun to get to talk to all my old directors and plan a concert.”
After traveling to the various cities, the Chapel Choir will hold a home performance of the Carnegie Hall debut concert and Masterworks performance on Sunday, March 12 in Mees Hall at 7 p.m. The performance will also feature an alumnus who currently is a member of Chanticleer.
