Grinnell Singers Take to the Road for Spring Tour

The Grinnell Singers, under the direction of Conductor John Rommereim, will be traveling east for the group’s week-long spring concert tour, March 16–22, with performances in Chicago; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Washington, D.C.

The concert will feature Pulitzer Prize–winner Caroline Shaw’s To the Hands, a work that offers stunningly beautiful choral harmonies, while considering a question central to our American heritage: what do we make of the vision of radical hospitality expressed in Emma Lazarus’ 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 also acknowledging the difficult realities of the refugee crisis. 

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 Hyejin Joo. 

The Grinnell 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.

Concert Dates and Locations

• Saturday, March 16, 7:30 p.m. concert
  Wicker Park Lutheran Church
  1500 N. Hoyne Ave.
  Chicago, IL
  773-276-0263
  office@wickerparklutheran.org
   

• Monday, March 18, 7:30 p.m. concert
  Westminster Presbyterian Church
  47 Jefferson Ave. Southeast
  Grand Rapids, MI
  616-581-1017
  ellenpool@comcast.net
   
• Tuesday, March 19, 7:30 p.m. concert
  Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church
  306 North Division Street
  Ann Arbor, MI
  jgardner@standrewsaa.org
   
• Wednesday, March 20, 7 p.m. service
  Singing as part of church service
  Shadyside Presbyterian Church
  5121 Westminster Place
  Pittsburgh, PA
   
• Friday, March 22, 7:30 p.m. concert 
  St. George’s Episcopal Church
  915 N. Arlington Street
  Arlington, VA
  Ben Kesely: bkeseley@saintgeorgeschurch.org
  With help from Luke Panceira: luke.panciera@gmail.com