The St. Thomas Chamber Singers were selected to participate in the American Choral Directors Association North Central region conference in Des Moines over spring break.
St. Thomas will be one of 14 singing groups performing in the auditioned conference show, which will also feature choirs from Canada, Mexico and South Korea.
“My greatest joy is sharing this group with the audience. I so love being with them everyday, but I’m the only one who gets to hear them and share their energy, so it’s really fun to share them with another audience,” Angela Broeker, director of choral activities and Chamber Singers conductor, said.
The choir went through a two-tiered blind audition process in which judges evaluated three pieces from the last three years. It was one of eight college choirs selected from Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
Broeker said the choir began preparing for this choral convention since September, which was a necessary amount of time as all the pieces have to be memorized and some are in Latvian, Turkish, French, Italian and Spanish.
Senior Lesley Salz said the choir’s dedication separates it from other choirs in the region.
“It’s a big honor that we got asked to go, so it’ll be kind of cool to show everyone what we can do,” Salz said.
Senior Matt Kopp said the competitiveness and exclusivity makes the experience an honor.
“It means a lot to be selected to perform at the conference. There is a competitive application process, and only the best choirs are chosen to be there. It gives us an idea of how far we’ve come as a choir program, and we take pride in the quality of singers and director we have at the university,” Kopp said.
Kopp said Chamber Singers stands out from other schools’ choirs for numerous reasons.
“Firstly, a vast majority of the singers aren’t music majors. Unlike many other choirs, our degrees span all over the university, yet we come together because we all love to sing,” Kopp said. “Another difference is our director. Dr. Broeker has revitalized and transformed the choir program since she arrived at the university and has helped make the St. Thomas choirs some of the best in the nation.”
Groups from Gustavus Adolphus, Minn.-Duluth, Wis.-Eau Claire, Wartburg College and Luther College will also perform at the conference. St. Thomas and Gustavus were the only MIAC schools selected to perform.
Sophomore Tony Klein said Broeker’s dedication to finding fresh music adds to the choir’s performance, but it doesn’t come without “more of a toll.”
“It’s a lot of work for Dr. Broeker (to choose) unique pieces that the judges haven’t heard before, finding the best recording of the pieces,” Klein said. “I’m excited because it’s cool to display the quality that we can perform from such a choir as St. Thomas.”
Kopp said the group practices three times per week in preparation for the group’s 25-minute performance, which includes a diverse repertoire.
“We’re singing songs in several languages, including Italian, French and Turkish; we’ve been fortunate enough to have St. Thomas teachers come into our practices to teach us proper diction and make sure we’re pronouncing all the words of the song correctly,” Kopp said.
In addition to help from language teachers, Kopp said the Chamber Singers have practiced with guitarists, a pianist, a violinist and a saxophonist who will be accompanying the group to Des Moines.