Happy fall, everyone! I hope these past few months have treated you well. Here are some of our highlights this fall!
New Members and Fall Retreat! (August 28-September 14)
This year, we are blessed to welcome 13 new members into The Roberts Chorale family! Our new members are diverse in their interests, majors, and hometowns; each bringing a unique perspective and voice to our group. We are so thankful that Carrie, Elle, Grace, Ciara, Maria, Julia, Chloe, Andrew, Redick, Garrett, Austin, Peter, and Ethan joined our Chorale family!
We kick started this year strong with the Chorale/Wind Ensemble Fall Retreat in Batavia, NY! We enjoyed a beautiful September Saturday full of music, games, food, and the love of Christ. It was such a privilege to bond as a group and a wonderful opportunity to get to know our new members on a deeper level.
Homecoming Celebrations (September 27&28)
After retreat, we had a quick two-week turnaround before our feature in the RWCCO homecoming concert and fundraising booth at the homecoming fair! The homecoming concert was titled "An Evening on Broadway" and was full of Broadway standards from many popular musicals; including Hamilton, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, and Les Miserables! We had so much fun preparing for this concert and experiencing a bit of Broadway magic! Some of our members also had the privilege of participating in the "Dueling Pianos" Broadway medley, where they got to experience some more of the Broadway performer experience (and got to perform a fun dance!). Thank you so much to Dr. Shewan and the RWCCO for inviting us to perform with them again this year at their annual homecoming concert!
The next day, we hosted a booth at the annual Roberts Wesleyan College Homecoming Festival! We sold popcorn and cotton candy to many people who attended the festival. We loved getting to meet so many Roberts alumni and Chorale alumni! Thank you to everyone who stopped by.
A Week Spent Abroad (September 30-October 4)
Right after homecoming, we jumped straight into a completely different concert program featuring some special guests: a choir from a school in Tianjin, China! They flew all the way from their school to spend a week learning from Dr. Potter and experiencing American culture. They were sweet natured and kind students who were eager to learn, and we absolutely loved getting to sing with them and spend time with them. The week with spent with these students was a powerful testimony of the power of music: even though we were separated by a strong language barrier, we were still able to share God's love to one another through our passion for music. Even though not every student shared our faith in Christ, we pray that they left our school knowing that there is a God who loves them and cares deeply for their wellbeing. Special thanks to Qiming Sheng for translating and to Julie Ruschik for helping to coordinate our week with the students from Tianjin!
Fall Tour Preview Concert (November 2)
After our visitors left, we began to prepare for our Fall Tour Preview Concert! It was such a joy to prepare for this concert because we got to share a part of our tour with friends and family from Rochester. This month was a month full of choral unity, as we grew closer to one another both as a singing ensemble and as a family of Christians. There is nothing more powerful than being united in faith and in song!
Christmas Gala and NYSSMA Presentation (December 5, 7-8)
To finish the first semester of this academic year, we performed in a presentation at the 2019 NYSSMA conference in Rochester, as well as singing the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah in the 2019 RWC Christmas Gala. Dr. Potter did a fantastic job during his NYSSMA presentation; explaining his process behind voicing our choir and demonstrating several of our concert formations. It was so interesting to see how much care Dr. Potter puts into creating formations that allow all of us to sing our best!
Right after this presentation, we turned our attention to the December Christmas Gala Scholarship concerts. The concerts were incredible; featuring original music by our department chair, Dr. Barta, some incredible performances by Chorale members, and a performance of the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah. Congratulations to all the performers and ensembles who helped make Gala a huge success!
Looking Forward (January 17-25)
As we look forward to the next semester, we are so excited to begin preparing for the concerts and experiences ahead. We hope you will continue to pray for us and support us in the new year and the new semester. We cannot wait to kick the semester off with a tour!
Special thanks to Bailey Thompson, Parker Story, Katie McNeill, Franky Arce, Grace Monteleone, and Megan Tatro for your contributions to this newsletter.
We are praying for God's blessings for you all this new year. Thank you for all your continual support!
- Abbegael Greene (web administrator)