While the Concordia Chapel Choir is away on their tour of Minnesota, they’ll nevertheless be singing about home, with a tour program centering on the places and the people called home — not just geographically, but spiritually as well.
“The students who form the choral community at Concordia have created the most beautiful musical home with unparalleled commitment to artistry,” said Dr. Stephanie Tubiolo, assistant professor of choral music and associate director of choirs at Concordia College. “I feel so grateful to be part of it and to make music with them every day.”
The Concordia Chapel Choir is an 85-voice mixed choir comprised of Concordia sophomores, juniors, and seniors of all areas of study. Originally created to enrich the music of Concordia’s chapel services, the Chapel Choir has since expanded its repertoire to include many genres and traditions, both sacred and secular.
The tour program, titled “Soon As I Get Home,” features an eclectic variety of music from across history and cultures, including two world premiere pieces. One of those is “Sympathy,” which earned student composer Levi Patton ’27 top honors in the Concordia Choral Composition Competition and features text from poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
The program also features “Misa Criolla,” an iconic Mass setting based on South American folk music, written by Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez and sung entirely in Spanish.
“It was actually one of the first choral Mass settings composed in a local language after the Second Vatican Council authorized vernacular Masses in 1963,” Tubiolo said. “Our rendition features our very own Dr. Roberto Palomeque (assistant professor of percussion at Concordia) and several of his students on percussion, as well as many student soloists.”
Tubiolo and her students are particularly looking forward to collaborating with other choirs as part of the tour, including the Trinity Lights youth choir at Trinity Lutheran Church in Moorhead.
“Alongside moments of deep reflection, audience members can expect many moments of unbridled joy,” Tubiolo said.
The tour begins March 19 in Baxter, Minnesota, in collaboration with the Brainerd High School A Cappella Choir. The next performance will be on March 20 in Cambridge, Minnesota, in collaboration with the Cambridge-Isanti High School Concert Choir, directed by Concordia grad Aaron Knudsvig ’00. The Chapel Choir sings again March 21 in Minneapolis and completes the tour at home on March 22.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit ConcordiaCollege.edu/ChapelChoir.
Tour Schedule
- Baxter, Minnesota
- Cambridge, Minnesota
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Moorhead, Minnesota
2 p.m. Sunday, March 22
Centrum, Knutson Campus Center, Concordia College
Free and open to the public
More
- The Concordia Chapel Choir
- Study Music at Concordia