Chamber Singers releases album, looks forward to tour

After releasing an album last year, the Chamber Singers are looking forward to taking their music to Europe.

“Let Me Fly,” an album of songs they’ve rehearsed for their performances, was released after three years of production.

Deshonte Helm, a senior music education major, said she loves the album.

“It’s really good music, it’s well organized and well thought out,” she said. “It wasn’t just one year, it was over the course of three years, even before I was in Chamber. Just hearing it all come together, hearing songs that I’ve rehearsed forever come together on one album makes it so
amazing.”

The album contains 18 tracks by different composers and is available for purchase in the Fine Arts building, or can be streamed through Spotify.

David Holdhusen, the Chamber Singers director, said the album will be a good recruiting tool for USD.

“It’s music by American composers and traditional folk songs. It’s a variety of things, you’ll hear a lot of modern composers and some contemporary things, but then intermixed you’ll hear more traditional things,” Holdhusen said. “I want it out as much as we can. I will give it to perspective students as a gift when they are here. I think that it is good PR for us.”

Holdhusen said one of the things he prides in this group of students is their ability to adjust their sound to the specific style of music they’re singing.

“We are adaptable to the music we are singing. If you had to pick one thing, we’re an a capella choir,” he said. “But we adapt. So, our sound for spiritual will be different for Bach or how we sing an American folk song will be different than how we might sing a German folk song.”

Performing locally and internationally

Holdhusen said this will be an average year for the Chamber Singers and that they have a lot to look forward to. He’s working with the new label to put out a new CD a year from now, he added.

“We’re traveling regionally this year, so obviously a quality performance,” Holdhusen said. “My biggest push for this year’s group is to have recording selections to do our next CD, so that we can have a new CD released and ready when we go on our European tour in 2019.”

While on their European tour, the Chamber Singers will be in London and Paris for four nights. They’ll sing in different locations during their stay, Holdhusen said.

“We’re going to go out to Stonehenge, and then come back,” Holdhusen said. “We’re going to go out to different places around there and then stay in London or Paris. We’ll be singing in several venues, most exciting

is that we’ll be singing in Notre Dame.”

Holdhusen said the Chamber Singers tour locally every year, and he hopes to travel out to the coasts eventually. Tours are funded through the album’s sales.

A ‘family dynamic’

Although the Chamber Singers are a group of students, many members feel that they’re more of a family.

Elizabeth Wensmann, the Chamber Singers president, said she’s going to get to know everyone in the ensemble a little better and cherish every moment she has, as this is her last year with the group.

“We have this wonderful family dynamic,” Wensmann said. “Everybody comes together very early in the year and we just grow together as a group and an ensemble, musically and as a family.”

Helm said she also feels a sense of family within the Chamber Singers.

“The family aspect is my favorite. We drive each other nuts some days, but we all love each other,” Helm said. “It’s very family-oriented, and we like to hang out together all
the time.”