A pin could be heard hitting the ground at the beginning evening of April 15 at the First Lutheran Church. At 7:30p.m., Bella Voce, southwest Minnesota’s premier women’s choir conducted by Dr. Stephen Kingsbury, began their concert.The group sang “Nigra Sum”, “Ave Mia”, and “Tantum Ergo”. The group also sang an Iraqi peace song and ended with “A Ballad of Two Nights”, both of which were conducted by student conductor Justin Condelli.

After a brief intermission, Men’s Glee Club, also directed by Kingsbury, sang “Dirait-on”, “A Stopwatch and an Ordinance Map”, “The Seal Lullaby” and ended with “Goin’ up to Glory”, a song that was sung by slaves before the Civil War who were planning on escape.

Anyone wishing to donate to The Vocal Scholar Award, a scholarship for deserving vocal students, can send donations to c/o Dr. Stephen Kingsbury SMSU, 1501 State Street, Marshall, MN. Checks should be made payable to the SMSU Foundation with “Vocal Scholar Endowment Fund” written as the memo.