Chamber Singers Go on Spring Break Tour

Spring Break can take both students and their activities across the country and the world. It’s no different for the USD Chamber Singers, who spent their week-long vacation on tour.

This year, the Chamber Singers tour took them across the Midwest, from Excelsior Minnesota, all the way to Saint Louis, Missouri, with performances in between at various small and large cities. All concerts were held in different churches across all denominations. 

The choir is an auditioned based group that is open to all majors, not exclusively fine arts. The group spends the academic year preparing for this tour along with their other concerts. The tour program is two-hours long, featuring various pieces of music that showcased different genres.

Performing the long program and maintaining the best vocal performance isn’t easy, according to Chamber member Anna McAuliffe. 

“You definitely have to learn how to take care of your voice, it’s also a matter of relying on your fellow choir members,” McAuliffe said. 

The group prioritized their health on the trip by taking Vitamin-C and carrying cough drops to maintain their voice. McAuliffe said the brain power of memorizing the music can also take a toll on your energy, as the group has their music entirely memorized prior to the tour. 

For most of the cities that the choir traveled to, the members of the choir were housed by parishioners of the churches that they performed at. They would perform their two-hour concert in one location and head off to the next one on a bus. When they weren’t traveling or performing, they were given a little bit of down time to explore the cities they stayed in. 

“I think every place has its own charm, but St. Louis was my personal favorite,” said Chamber member Maleah Wright.

Some of the sites the group visited were the Gateway Arch as well as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Saint Louis’s performance was a stand-out for McCauliffe. The group performed for a previous USD Chamber Singers alumnus who directs music at the church they performed at.

“It was great to hear the parishioners talk about how much they enjoyed our performance even more because we had that personal connection,” she said. 

Wright said every performance was better than the previous as the trip went on. 

“We poured our heart and soul into these performances and our audiences were super receptive and gracious.” Wright said. 

The group also performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as one of their stops. McAuliffe, who is from a nearby town, said she was glad to bring awareness to USD’s Fine Arts programs. 

“I didn’t know that USD existed when I was growing up, I think it’s really good for us to get out there and show people they can do this after high school and don’t need to study music to do it,” McAuliffe said. 
The Chamber Singers continue to prepare for their last few concerts of the semester. Their performances are available to view on their Facebook page.