For the members of the EMU Chamber Singers, their performance last week at Landis Homes, a senior living community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, might’ve felt like an arena show.
“We came out and we owned that stage,” said EMU sophomore Ciela Acosta, an alto in the choir. “The energy in that room was palpable.”
EMU senior Reah Clymer, a soprano whose grandmother lives at the community, recounted “lots of clapping, lots of smiles and lots of tears and dancing” at the concert. “It was packed,” she said. “They had to bring in a couch from the outside foyer for my grandma because the entire chapel was full.”
Students in the auditioned touring chamber choir estimated that well over 100 people attended the Tuesday evening show, where they were joined by the Lancaster Mennonite High School choir. It was one of about a dozen performances throughout Pennsylvania and Virginia by the Chamber Singers during its spring break tour from March 1-6. Twenty-two members of the choir sang songs of hope and unity, the theme of the tour, at four churches, four high schools, a music learning center, and the aforementioned senior living community.
EMU junior Eli Stoll, who sings bass in Chamber Singers, said that the performance at Landis Homes “definitely felt like the concert where we made the best sound and had the most fun as a group.”
Part of the excitement of that show stemmed from just how many close ties there were to EMU. Acosta said that at the beginning of the concert, Chamber Singers Director Dr. Benjamin Bergey asked for a show of hands from those who had either attended EMU or had a child attend. “Almost every single person in that room raised their hand,” she said. “Seeing that gave me chills.”
EMU junior Hollyn Miller, a soprano from Lancaster whose family and friends were in attendance, said a special moment for her on the tour was performing for her home church, Blossom Hill Mennonite Church. “I had sung a few times at the church,” she said, “and so a lot of people were excited to have us there.”
Another favorite stop for students on the tour was Nations Worship Center, a large Mennonite church in Philadelphia. Because their visit was on a Sunday morning, members of the choir got the opportunity to worship with the Indonesian Mennonite congregation and join together in a meal. EMU President Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman delivered the sermon, which was translated into Indonesian.
When Bergey began introducing the choir in what seemed to be near-fluent Indonesian, the group of students was caught off-guard. “We were so thrown off by that,” Miller said, “because he didn’t tell us he was going to do that.”
Clymer agreed. “All of us were looking around at each other,” she said. “I was watching the crowd, and you could tell they were surprised and loving it.”
The tour included several encore performances. It was during these moments the Chamber Singers would sing “Avulekile Amasango,” a song that Clymer and alto Emma Nord brought back from their spring 2023 intercultural in South Africa. “We loved it so much that we took it on tour with us,” Clymer said.
The annual spring break tour offers a time for the singers to build camaraderie and learn to put the needs of the group first. The intensive nature of the tour, with a concert or two scheduled nearly every day, also helps them hone their craft. “Their sound, blend and performances greatly improved from this tour,” Bergey said. “And we received more feedback than usual at how outstanding this particular group sounds.”
Not all of the choir’s performances were listed in the program. Acosta, who is in her first semester with the group, said one of her favorite memories from the trip came from a hotel pool in Charlottesville. The students, enjoying some downtime in the pool, stood together in a circle and started belting out tunes from their repertoire. “That brought me so much joy,” she said, “and the acoustics were so good in there.”
Stoll said this is the biggest Chamber Singers group in his three semesters with the choir. He had been nervous about touring with such a large group, but those fears quickly evaporated when they began performing together. “I was surprised and pleased with how much fun we had, how much laughter there was, and how much we gelled as a group,” he said. “That’s made me even more excited about Europe.”
Choir members said the experience was useful in preparing them for their tour through Europe this summer, from May 14-31. The Chamber Singers was selected as the group to represent North America at Mennonite World Conference for its 500th anniversary of Anabaptism in Zurich, Switzerland, on May 29. The choir will perform many of the same songs from the spring tour, along with some additions. Donations are gratefully accepted toward their travel expenses.
In addition to performing with the Lancaster Mennonite High School choir, the Chamber Singers sang with the Dock Mennonite Academy choir at Souderton Mennonite Church. The Chamber Singers performed at the two Pennsylvania schools and at Charlottesville and Rocktown high schools.
Bergey said they reached scores of prospective students during the high school visits, connected with important alumni, donors and communities, and “spread not only the message of hope and unity, but also the value of an EMU education.”
It was such a joy to have you at Landis Homes! Thank you to all of you.