On Monday, May 18, members of the Colgate University Chorus and Chamber Singers will depart for a ten-day tour of Central Europe, with performances in Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, and Budapest. This tour is generously supported by the Helen K. Persson Fund for the Performing Arts, the Office of the President, and the Colgate University Department of Music.
The Colgate University Chorus is a large, mixed-voice ensemble that performs a broad range of traditional choral literature, often with an accompanying professional orchestra. The University Chorus is open to all students, faculty, staff, and community members by audition. 49 singers are the ambassadors for the 80-voice University Chorus while on tour of Central Europe. The Chamber Singers is a select student choral ensemble that specializes in the performance of a cappella choral music at the highest level. The members of the 18-voice Chamber Singers are all members of the University Chorus. In addition to performing in concert, the Chamber Singers perform at several university functions, including athletic events and the annual Lessons & Carols service each December.
Touring is one of the most important scholastic activities for choral organizations and the academic institutions they represent. Audiences across central Europe will have the opportunity to hear and meet the bright, talented students of Colgate University. The students, in turn, will have the cultural and musical experience of a lifetime—the opportunity to perform in other societies and cultures, while learning about those cultures and the birthplace of Western art music. The concert tour is a valuable opportunity to experience the historical and cultural context of the music we study, rehearse, and perform at Colgate University. Finally, concert tours bring students together, increasing student interest in choral music and cementing Colgate friendships for a lifetime.
On the tour, the choirs will perform music by composers who have a connection to the cities on our concert tour: Antonín Dvořák, who lived and worked in Prague, our first destination; Johannes Brahms, who spent most of his career in Vienna; and Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, whose music we will perform in Budapest. As part of the tour, the University Chorus and Chamber Singers will also perform in Bratislava, Slovakia.