The Grove City College Touring Choir will travel down the southeastern coast for their annual spring break tour from Feb. 29 through March 8.
The choir will perform at churches and other venues in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, hosted by alumni at each of their stops. This year’s tour also includes a choral workshop at Asheville Christian School in Swannanoa, N.C. and a show at a large retirement home for veterans.
“I think that will be a really special opportunity and a wonderful time to minister to the people there,” Stephanie Mills ’21, student director of public relations for the Touring Choir said.
Though the Choir’s main goal is to minister through music, the group will also get to have some fun on their spring break, with plans to visit the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C., South Carolina beaches and several cities.
The music of this tour represents a wide variety of compositional eras including Baroque, Classical, Romantic and modern, according to Dr. Katherine E. Mueller, assistant professor of Music and director of Choral Activities. “Musical styles range from motets to African-American spirituals and the Choir will honor Beethoven’s 250th birthday by performing his exciting Hallelujah from “Christ on the Mount of Olives,’” Mueller said.
Mills appreciates Mueller’s choice for the choir’s repertoire, and her favorite piece this year is “Song for Athene” by John Tavener. “It is almost hauntingly beautiful and I love the reminder it gives of the amazing hope we have in heaven,” she said.
The Chamber Singers, a 12-voice subset of the Touring Choir, will also be performing in every concert. After tour, the Choir will perform their program for the campus and community at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 14 in Harbison Chapel. The concert is free and open to the public.
Tour stops include:
- Saturday, February 29
7 p.m. Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Davidsonville, Md.
- Sunday, March 1
9:30 a.m. Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and 7 p.m. Vinson Hall Retirement, McLean, Va.
- Tuesday, March 3
7 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, Asheville, N.C.
- Wednesday, March 4
7 p.m. The Parish Church of St. Helena, Beaufort, S.C.
- Friday, March 6
7 p.m. University Hills Baptist Church, Charlotte, N.C.
- Saturday, March 7
7 p.m. Burke Presbyterian Church, Burke, Va.
- Sunday, March 8
9 a.m. Burke Presbyterian Church