Grinnell Singers head east with five spring break concerts
February 15, 2024 — The Grinnell Singers, a 50-student ensemble from Grinnell College, are embarking on a five-performance spring break tour in March.
The concert will feature Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw’s To the Hands, a work that offers stunningly beautiful choral harmonies, while it considers a question that is central to our American heritage: what do we make of the vision of radical hospitality expressed in Emma Lazarus’s poetry at the Statue of Liberty, which enjoins us to offer relief to “those yearning to breathe free?” Shaw’s powerful work holds up those inspiring ideals while acknowledging the difficult realities of the refugee crisis.
The 2023-24 Grinnell Singers are about to embark on a five-city concert trip.
The highly varied concert includes the “Choral Fantasy on Soon I Will be Done,” a brilliant new work by John Stoddart with a concerto-like accompaniment that mixes Beethoven-inspired passages with gospel and jazz-inflected material, played masterfully by pianist and faculty member, Dr. Hyejin Joo. A complete listing of our concert schedule is below.
The Singers will offer the majestic second movement from Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil “Bless the Lord, O My Soul,” and Claudio Monteverdi’s passionate love song, “In Converse with the Stars” [Svogava con le stelle]. The audience will be treated with the lovely folk hymn, “Bright Morning Stars are Rising,” a stirring, gospel-influenced setting of a Paul Lawrence Dunbar poem by Ken Burton titled “A Prayer,” Gyorgy Svridov’s soulful work, “Sacred Love” (the Grinnell Singers YouTube video of this song with current Grinnell Trustee Graciela Guzman ’11 has 48,000 views worldwide), and “Beauty by Beauty,” a gentle meditation on the fleeting human experience amidst the Earth’s enduring natural splendor by John Rommereim, with text by Joy Harjo, written in memory of beloved Grinnell College Professor of Education Jean Ketter.
We thank you in advance for your support of our creative and artistic students.
The Grinnell Singers Concert Schedule
All concerts are open to the public.
Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Wicker Park Lutheran Church
1500 N. Hoyne Ave.
Chicago, IL
Visit the church's visitor webpage for location and accessibilty information.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Monday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Westminster Presbyterian Christ
47 Jefferson Ave. Southeast
Grand Rapids, MI
Visit the church's visitor webpage for location and accessibilty information.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church
306 N. Division St.
Ann Arbor, MI
Visit the church's visitor webpage for location and accessibilty information.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Wednesday, March 20. Performance will be part of the 7 p.m. church service.
Shadyside Presbyterian Church
5121 Westminster Place
Pittsburgh, PA
Visit the church's visitor webpage for location and accessibility information.
Arlington, Virginia
Friday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Saint George's Episcopal Church
915 N. Oakland St.
Arlington, VA
Visit the church's visitor webpage for location information.