Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Festival Choir and Alumni Choir members performed at the spring concert in the St. Thomas Chapel Thursday night.

The evening focused on showcasing all the choirs’ talents as well as saying goodbye to the seniors.

The evening started with choir director Dr. Angela Broeker having each senior come up in front of the audience and reading memories other choir members had written.

Freshman Dalton Neu said, “I really liked the senior memory sharing. That was especially emotional for the seniors. Choir is like your family.”

Senior Dan Petranek described his last choir concert as “bittersweet.”

“I don’t think I will ever have another opportunity to make music with a group of this caliber. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m really going to miss it. It’s been so good that I can’t just help but be thankful that I got the chance I did, “ Petranek said.

Besides just focusing on the seniors, alumni choir members were present and singing as well.

“It was nice to have the alumni come back with us and be able to sing with them and have that bonding of the generations, “ sophomore Dillon Bogenreif said.

To accommodate the alumni, the choirs sang favorite pieces from years past.

“It’s kind of a nostalgic way to look back at it and enjoy the past as well as the present,” Bogenreif said.

Past pieces that were sung included “Domine Fili Unigenite,” “Shenandoah” and “He Never Failed Me Yet.”

The choirs sang some pieces from this school year as well.

Concert Choir performed “Requiem” and Chamber Singers performed “La Ponte Mirabeau” for its pieces for this year. Some of the songs were sung by Festival Choir as well, which is Concert Choir and Chamber Singers combined.

A highlight for some of the singers was the concert’s location.

Petranek said, “I love singing in this chapel. The acoustics are just incredible.”

For some singers, the evening meant more than just singing.

Petranek added, “It is just a joyful place, joyful people, how could it not be great?”

Jacqueline Destache can be reached at dest9449@stthomas.edu.

The St. Thomas Chamber Singers held its second annual musical theater concert Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1.

Choir members performed solos, duets and ensemble pieces, and each performance featured different acts, except for the full-choir pieces at the beginning and end of the concert.

Junior Aaron Behnke conducted the Chamber Singers’ first piece, “Seasons of Love” from “Rent.” As a vocal music education major, Behnke has taken conducting classes at St. Thomas, but said this was his first time conducting a large group.

“It was a little nerve-wracking, but it felt really good,” Behnke said. “I was prepared really well.”

Freshman Callie Wilson performed “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz.” Wilson said she was nervous for her solo but found a way to cope with it.

“Usually I try to channel all those nerves into positive energy, and I think that might have paid off for me today,” Wilson said.

Along with showcasing students’ individual talents, the concert also allowed students to be creative and take a more light-hearted approach to the pieces they performed.

A group of women embellished their performance of Grease’s “It’s Raining on Prom Night” by wearing prom dresses and using umbrellas as props. Their makeup looked runny as if they had been caught in the rain.

A small group of men decided to entertain the audience with “Men in Tights,” and their attire adhered to the song’s title. Sophomore Tommy Glass said the group was deciding between a couple other songs but chose this one because “it was short, it was funny and we got to wear tights.”

Glass also had a solo performance of “Dracula’s Lament” in the show.

“I was really close to doing a normal song, but I thought that this would be funnier,” he said. “It turned out pretty well,I thought.”

Freshman Trevor Rolando said the choir “put a lot of hard work into it [and] it turned out to be really fun.”

Wilson said the concert was a “wonderful way to showcase everyone’s talent.” She said the choir has “so many different styles of singing that we can’t even experience until we have a concert like this.”

A reception in the Brady Educational Center lobby following the concert gave some students the opportunity to share their music.

Senior Heather Bartlett, junior Andrew Smith and sophomore Tyler Nelson gave out CDs and collected donations in hope of making their music known.

“I don’t really care about making sales, I just want people to hear my music,” Nelson said. “That’s why I make it – for people to listen to.”

Rita Kovtun can be reached at kovt1547@stthomas.edu.

The men’s basketball team presented its NCAA Division III national championship trophy Tuesday afternoon in Schoenecker Arena. The team also revealed the championship banner that will be displayed on the east wall of the arena.

Michael Ewen can be reached at mtewen@stthomas.edu.

The St. Thomas Chamber Singers performed a farewell concert Tuesday night at the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas.

The group leaves Wednesday morning for Chicago to perform two concerts at the American Choral Directors Association convention, a bi-annual event that runs March 9-12. Only five college or university choirs are invited to perform at the convention.

“We’ve compared it to winning the World Series for choirs,” choir director Angela Broeker said. “The University of St. Thomas choirs are known regionally. This is the first opportunity to be on a national stage.”

Tuesday night served as the final dress rehearsal for the choir members before they leave to perform in front of thousands of choir directors. The group found out it was selected from more than 75 auditioning choirs last June, which means its two performances Thursday will be almost a year in the making.

“We do [think we’re ready],” Broeker said. “I think we’re peaking at just the right time.”

After being invited to perform at a regional ACDA convention in 2008, Broeker said she wasn’t sure if one of her choirs would ever make the final step to the national convention.

“I couldn’t believe it [when I found out],” she said. “It’s been thrilling and frightening, exhilarating, death-defying and wonderful all wrapped up into one.”

The choir’s first performance is Thursday morning at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and its second performance is in the evening at Roosevelt Auditorium in downtown Chicago.

“It’s a great feeling,” senior Tom Kreitzer said. “The group we have is just phenomenal.”

Each concert in Chicago is set to last 25 minutes and will feature six songs. The choir performed the concert in its entirety Tuesday night, covering songs in French, Italian, Lithuanian, Spanish and English.

“It’s been a lot of work. We didn’t know any of the foreign languages,” Kreitzer said. “Learning the Lithuanian was kind of tough.”

The sole song in English gave the choir a break from foreign linguistics and gave the Show’d Up Band, made up of St. Thomas faculty and staff, a chance to play with the singers. Swimming coach Tom Hodgson, Bob Douglas, coordinator of recycling and central receiving, and Joe Kreitzer, associate vice president of academic affairs, all provided music for the concert’s final song, “Down in the River,” which was arranged by Broeker’s husband.

“This was really Angie (Broeker’s) request,” Hodgson said. “She just loved the bluegrass idea and was looking for a song that the choir could really showcase.”

The Broekers aren’t the only relatives taking advantage of the collaboration. Joe Kreitzer from the Show’d Up Band is choir senior Tom Kreitzer’s father.

“It’s kind of a weird feeling to be playing with my dad and have him playing with us,” Tom Kreitzer said. “It’s kind of odd but pretty cool.”

Tom Kreitzer said the Show’d Up Band has been playing with the Chamber Singers for the last three years, and Hodgson said the band appreciates the relationship.

“It’s a fun connection,” he said. “They’re wonderful kids, and very respectful, and we just love playing with them.”

Jordan Osterman can be reached at jrosterman@stthomas.edu.

This is News in :90 for Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011.

Eight-hundred and twenty-five St. Thomas families registered to participate in this year’s Family Weekend, according to Assistant Dean of Students Sister Sharon Howell.

Family Weekend has been a St. Thomas tradition for more than 20 years. This year, families could listen to a speech by former Olympian Mary Lou Retton, eat brats and chili in the upper quad, attend a free concert by Tonic Sol-fa, and participate in an ecumenical worship service Sunday morning.

Howell said she hopes parents and students had fun, but she thinks it’s more important that they take something away from the experience.

“It’s not all about the activities, but ‘did you [the parents] enjoy being here, did you enjoy the experience, did you have time with your student, and did you enjoy that,’” Howell said. “And if the feedback that we get is yes, then that’s what we want.”

Colleen Schreier can be reached at schr1207@stthomas.edu.

Graduates received their diplomas in an unusual location Saturday. Commencement ceremonies were held at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, due to the construction of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex. The undergraduate ceremony started at 2 p.m. and featured the Rev. Marvin O’Connell, University of Notre Dame emeritus faculty, and Tommie Award recipient Steven Broszko.

Michael Ewen can be reached at mtewen@stthomas.edu.

Students are hanging shirts and jeans on clotheslines this week in the Lower Quad, but they’re not doing laundry.

The display is part of a nationwide project to help build awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault directed toward women. Students are encouraged to make their own designs on shirts with various colors, each of which represents a different type of gender-based violence.

The clothesline project was started in the 1990s in Massachusetts.

Meg Tvrdik can be reached at tvrd0386@stthomas.edu.

St. Thomas’ Knights of Columbus have a tradition of praying in front of Planned Parenthood every Friday.

The group meets at 3:15 p.m. in the lobby of St. John Vianney Seminary and then car pools to the business on Ford Parkway in Highland Park.

Junior Sean Grismer said the group consists mostly of seminarians, but it welcomes everybody and has seen an increase in non-seminarians so far this school year.

While praying outside the business, Grismer said the group never goes unnoticed.

“When cars drive by, some will honk their horn to either show support, or to show that they’re against us,” Grismer said. “The ones who hold down their horn, it’s usually anger, but if they only beep their horn a couple of times, usually you can tell they’re supporting us.”

Kathi Di Nicola, Planned Parenthood’s director of media relations, said the group of St. Thomas students is very peaceful and respectful, but still puts a lot of pressure on patients.

“It’s hard on our patients who are seeking reproductive health care to have to run the gauntlet of protesters,” Di Nicola said. “It can add another layer of stress on a visit that’s already emotionally charged.”

Grismer said more intense protestors picket in front of Planned Parenthood on Saturdays when it performs abortions. But he said the group of St. Thomas students expresses their concern in a different way.

“Our world is filled with so much noise as it is,” Grismer said. “We’re trying to show them that we’re not angry with them, that we love them and there are other ways even in the hardest times.”

Michael Ewen can be reached at mtewen@stthomas.edu.