The walls of Marshall’s First Lutheran Church were filled with the voices of SMSU’s Men’s Glee Club and Bella Voce last Thursday. The night started out with Men’s Glee Club singing “Down With Baccus” and ended their first appearance singing “Silent Noon”, directed by Student Director Luke Nelson and “The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard” with Hannah MacArthur on the piano.
Bella Voce came on directly after, beginning their performance with ‘Linden Lea”, directed by student director Justin Condelli and finishing strong with Condelli conducting a rendition of “Blackbird” by The Beatles. After intermission, Bella Voce two more songs before passing the show back to the Glee Club. The choir sang four more songs, ending the night by singing “The First Noel”.
The experience is a rewarding one for those participating in the choirs- Freshman Aaron Madson expressed how much he enjoys Glee Club, saying “I Love singing with a group of guys. There’s nothing like being surrounded by a group of guys who want to sing.”
Director Stephen Kingsbury, the Director of Choral Activities at SMSU enjoys it as well. “For me, the most rewarding part of being a conductor lies in the process of preparing for a performance. To me, there is no distinction between being a conductor and being a teacher. In every rehearsal we are not only working on learning the music, but are also learning the technical and interpretive skills that are necessary to create a truly compelling performance of that piece of music. I love watching the singers in the ensembles grow through that rehearsal process. They grow as singers, they grow as artists, and ultimately, because we are engaging in great art, they grow as human beings. That is incredibly rewarding and tremendously humbling to be able to observe.”
To support the choir, a new scholarship exclusively for vocal students has been established by the SMSU Choirs and the SMSU foundation. Checks can be made payable to the SMSU foundation with “Vocal Scholar Endowment Fund” posted as the memo. Checks can be sent to Vocal Scholar Award Fund, c/o Dr. Stephen Kingsbury, SMSU, 1501 State Street Marshall, MN.