Join us for an afternoon of music with the Musical Theater Review, and the Women’s Choir from the College of St. Benedict and St. Johns University under the direction of Professors Carolyn Finley and Susan Vollbrecht.
Musical Theater review: 2-3 pm. Solos and duets from musicals performed in the cafe
Women’s Choir: 3:30 - 4:30 pm: outdoor concert (weather permitting, or indoors if necessary)
The College of St. Benedict/Saint John’s University’s Women’s Choir strives to use their voices to celebrate, connect, and honor the human spirit. We perform challenging repertoire across many genres and cultures to provide students a rich singing experience. We celebrate our Benedictine Values through music. A component of our practice is to use our voices to support issues of social justice. Collaborative projects we have experienced are the annual Still I Rise Concert, a collaboration with other MN collegiate treble choirs highlighting the connection between the arts, education, and social justice as singers perform songs of struggle, strength, and empowerment. This concert serves as a good-will fundraiser for area shelters. During Covid pandemic in Spring 2021, the choir was the featured collegiate ensemble in the Staples Area Women’s Choir Her Voice, Her Song Festival virtual choral collaboration performing, “Grace Before Sleep” by Susan LaBaar. In 2019, the choir joined voices with St. Cloud’s Higher Ground Church Gospel Choir and other community singers to support Damian Sneed in honoring the life and work of Martin Luther King Junior in Sneed’s musical tribute, We Shall Overcome. Our artistic theme in 2016-17 was Singing as Healing; a highpoint of the year was performing with artists Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem who highlight music’s healing properties in their songs and stories. In 2016, the choir was featured in a co-presentation with Drs. Mary Hinton & Susan Vollbrecht in Exploring the Individual and Collective Voice Expressed Within Spirituals, an Informance/Demonstration for the 2016 Minnesota Music Educator Association (MMEA) Midwinter Clinic in Minneapolis. The choir is directed by Dr. Susan Vollbrecht, Associate Professor of Music Education at CSB/SJU