Campus felt warmer than usual on Monday morning, and it wasn’t just because of the sunshine. The music was bumping, the bubble machine was set to max, and positive vibes were in full swing. Faculty and staff members lined the pathway in front of Lehman Auditorium, holding signs and cheering as students arrived for Opening Convocation.

The annual ceremony serves as the traditional kickoff to the school year. Judging by the excitement on Monday morning, this year is sure to be bursting with energy and enthusiasm.

Keep scrolling for snapshots of the music, engaging speakers, and words of wisdom from Opening Convocation 2025!

Students received a hero’s welcome as they made their way into Lehman Auditorium for the ceremony. There were plenty of hugs and high-fives to go around!

As faculty and staff processed into Lehman as per tradition, they were treated to rhythmic djembe drumming led by Makinto, an Eastern Mennonite Seminary student and globetrotting musician. The talented multi-instrumentalist and worship leader energized the audience, leading everyone in a lively call-and-response of “walk in peace,” “together we can,” “and unity,” and “E-M-U.”

Members of the EMU Chamber Singers, directed by Dr. Benjamin Bergey, lifted their voices together in a flawless rendition of the hymn, “The Unclouded Day.” Earlier this summer, the choir performed at venues across Europe and represented North America at the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism celebration in Zürich. 

Those attending Opening Convocation got a special treat as Dr. David Berry, director of the music program at EMU, debuted a new, rockin’ song written just for the occasion. Berry lit up the piano and delivered some fiery rap verses, while adjunct music instructors Jonah Barnett (guitar) jammed out on electric guitar and Tabatha Parrott (contemporary voice) wowed with her powerhouse vocals. 

Dr. Tynisha Willingham, provost and vice president of academic affairs at EMU, provided words of welcome and introduced the university theme for the year ahead. “For those of you who are first-year students, you’re stepping into a world of endless possibilities, new friendships, and academic challenges. But you don’t have to do it alone because we do this thing at EMU together,” she said. “… ‘Together’ is a word you’re going to hear, see, and, I hope, feel in your mind. We will learn together, we will serve together, we will compete together, and, this year, we will sustain together.”

Seniors Maria Longenecker and Leah Frankenfield, who are serving as Student Government Association co-presidents this year, introduced themselves and encouraged students to express their concerns. “Together, we’re committed to making sure each student feels that their voice matters and is heard on campus,” said Longenecker. “We strive to support all students, including our multicultural, athletic, international, commuter, first-gen, and everyone in between.”

Claire Hurst, a third-year environmental science and public health major who spent the summer as a climate advocacy intern through the EMU Washington Semester, shared her experiences and spoke on the importance of environmental sustainability. At its core, she said, environmental sustainability is about using resources in a way that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

“For me, a passion for the natural world has grown from countless summer nights camping under tall pine trees and Sunday afternoon hikes filled with laughter among friends and family. It feels natural to want to protect and give back to the places that have provided me such joy and fulfillment,” she said. “As we begin this fall semester, I encourage you all to think about how you connect and engage with our everyday spaces. … Anything that allows you to appreciate the environment will translate into wanting to protect it.”

The Rev. Dr. Shannon W. Dycus used the Opening Convocation, her first as EMU’s interim president, to talk about trees. She invited the members of the EMU learning community to imagine themselves as trees and their lives together as a forest. She spoke about the interconnected root systems deep underground that anchor trees and absorb water and nutrients, the methods trees use to communicate stress and share resources, and the many ways they work in unison to sustain the forest as a whole—not just themselves.

“Forests don’t thrive because each tree is the tallest or the strongest; they flourish because they are connected.” she said. “EMU, we are a living forest, rooted in shared values and branching toward new possibilities. Every one of us—students, faculty, staff—brings something essential to this ecosystem.”

Thank you to everyone who helped make Opening Convocation a spirited success, and we are excited to “Sustain Together” this year!

The auditioned touring chamber choir was one of five ensembles chosen from around the world—joining groups from Indonesia, Kenya, Paraguay, and Switzerland—to perform songs at the event, The Courage to Love: Anabaptism@500, hosted by Mennonite World Conference. About 3,500 Anabaptists gathered in Zürich for the celebration, including about 1,200 worshippers who filled the Grossmünster church for the service, while many tens of thousands more watched the event live online. 

The 24 members of the Chamber Singers performed nine full concerts, two church services, and several impromptu outdoor gigs along their 2½-week European tour. In addition to their singing, the group’s EMU students and alumni visited museums, joined walking tours and history lectures, and explored Anabaptist heritage sites, a concentration camp, and the Anne Frank House.

Chamber Singers Director Dr. Benjamin Bergey ’11 said the choir performed for large crowds at nearly every concert and left a visible impact on many audience members through the quality of their singing and the poignancy of their message of hope and unity. “Several pieces moved dozens of people to tears, including ‘Prayer of the Children’ and ‘Ukuthula,’” he said. “Many audience members came up afterward to share how much hope it gave them to see so many young people so deeply invested in both the music and the message.”

Members of the Chamber Singers said their transformative experiences on the tour deepened their faith and strengthened their commitment to peace & justice. In Zürich, they shared meals with singers from around the world and traveled by bus and rehearsed together. “It was a wonderful intercultural experience,” Bergey said.

For Emma Nord ’25, an alto from Greenville, Illinois, one particularly memorable moment during the 500-year celebration came while witnessing Anabaptist and Reformed Church leaders wash each other’s feet at the service. “Their humility and desire for reconciliation was beautiful,” she said. “It was the experience of a lifetime, for sure.”

Joshua Stucky, a rising senior from Princeton, New Jersey, who sings bass in the Chamber Singers, also toured Europe with the choir in May 2023. But he said the music on this most recent trip resonated even more deeply with audiences. “I think our message of hope and unity crosses language barriers,” he said. “It carries so much weight right now.”

Thank you to all the alumni, friends, family, and donors who supported the tour in so many different ways!

Watch a recording of the Chamber Singers in the video above
and read more about the event in the Anabaptist World post below.

“We came out and we owned that stage,” said EMU sophomore Ciela Acosta, an alto in the choir. “The energy in that room was palpable.”

EMU senior Reah Clymer, a soprano whose grandmother lives at the community, recounted “lots of clapping, lots of smiles and lots of tears and dancing” at the concert. “It was packed,” she said. “They had to bring in a couch from the outside foyer for my grandma because the entire chapel was full.”

Students in the auditioned touring chamber choir estimated that well over 100 people attended the Tuesday evening show, where they were joined by the Lancaster Mennonite High School choir. It was one of about a dozen performances throughout Pennsylvania and Virginia by the Chamber Singers during its spring break tour from March 1-6. Twenty-two members of the choir sang songs of hope and unity, the theme of the tour, at four churches, four high schools, a music learning center, and the aforementioned senior living community.

EMU junior Eli Stoll, who sings bass in Chamber Singers, said that the performance at Landis Homes “definitely felt like the concert where we made the best sound and had the most fun as a group.”

Part of the excitement of that show stemmed from just how many close ties there were to EMU. Acosta said that at the beginning of the concert, Chamber Singers Director Dr. Benjamin Bergey asked for a show of hands from those who had either attended EMU or had a child attend. “Almost every single person in that room raised their hand,” she said. “Seeing that gave me chills.” 

EMU junior Hollyn Miller, a soprano from Lancaster whose family and friends were in attendance, said a special moment for her on the tour was performing for her home church, Blossom Hill Mennonite Church. “I had sung a few times at the church,” she said, “and so a lot of people were excited to have us there.”

Another favorite stop for students on the tour was Nations Worship Center, a large Mennonite church in Philadelphia. Because their visit was on a Sunday morning, members of the choir got the opportunity to worship with the Indonesian Mennonite congregation and join together in a meal. EMU President Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman delivered the sermon, which was translated into Indonesian.

When Bergey began introducing the choir in what seemed to be near-fluent Indonesian, the group of students was caught off-guard. “We were so thrown off by that,” Miller said, “because he didn’t tell us he was going to do that.” 

Clymer agreed. “All of us were looking around at each other,” she said. “I was watching the crowd, and you could tell they were surprised and loving it.”

The tour included several encore performances. It was during these moments the Chamber Singers would sing “Avulekile Amasango,” a song that Clymer and alto Emma Nord brought back from their spring 2023 intercultural in South Africa. “We loved it so much that we took it on tour with us,” Clymer said.

The annual spring break tour offers a time for the singers to build camaraderie and learn to put the needs of the group first. The intensive nature of the tour, with a concert or two scheduled nearly every day, also helps them hone their craft. “Their sound, blend and performances greatly improved from this tour,” Bergey said. “And we received more feedback than usual at how outstanding this particular group sounds.”

Not all of the choir’s performances were listed in the program. Acosta, who is in her first semester with the group, said one of her favorite memories from the trip came from a hotel pool in Charlottesville. The students, enjoying some downtime in the pool, stood together in a circle and started belting out tunes from their repertoire. “That brought me so much joy,” she said, “and the acoustics were so good in there.”

Stoll said this is the biggest Chamber Singers group in his three semesters with the choir. He had been nervous about touring with such a large group, but those fears quickly evaporated when they began performing together. “I was surprised and pleased with how much fun we had, how much laughter there was, and how much we gelled as a group,” he said. “That’s made me even more excited about Europe.”

Choir members said the experience was useful in preparing them for their tour through Europe this summer, from May 14-31. The Chamber Singers was selected as the group to represent North America at Mennonite World Conference for its 500th anniversary of Anabaptism in Zurich, Switzerland, on May 29. The choir will perform many of the same songs from the spring tour, along with some additions.  are gratefully accepted toward their travel expenses.

In addition to performing with the Lancaster Mennonite High School choir, the Chamber Singers sang with the Dock Mennonite Academy choir at Souderton Mennonite Church. The Chamber Singers performed at the two Pennsylvania schools and at Charlottesville and Rocktown high schools. 

Bergey said they reached scores of prospective students during the high school visits, connected with important alumni, donors and communities, and “spread not only the message of hope and unity, but also the value of an EMU education.”

Three choirs from diverse musical and cultural traditions will join together for a concert held at EMU this week.

The event, Love, Joy & Peace: A Choral Celebration!, will be held at Lehman Auditorium on Friday, March 14, at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10.

Dr. David Berry, director of the music program at EMU, described the event as a big celebration. “The idea for this concert was truly born out of a sense of community,” he said. “We’re not just bringing together different styles of music, but also we’re bringing together people from different communities.”

The concert will feature performances by:

• the EMU Chamber Singers, the university’s auditioned touring chamber choir, directed by Professor Benjamin Bergey, singing songs of hope and unity from its recent spring break tour;
• the EMU Gospel Choir, a talented group of students directed by EMU senior Kay Pettus, delivering uplifting gospel music; and 
• the Kush Anglican Choir, a choir from a Sudanese congregation in Harrisonburg, directed by EMU senior Rita Toto, performing traditional Sudanese songs in Arabic. 

Berry first heard the latter choir perform at a fundraiser last July at A Bowl of Good in Harrisonburg. The supported Pax Dei for Nuba, a nonprofit raising awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. “Their choir sounded incredible, and they perform a variety of music, including songs from their culture and in their native language,” Berry said. “I knew we had to invite them to perform on campus.”

After each choir performs their own selection of songs, the three vocal ensembles will combine on stage to sing “Let’s Come Together,” an original composition written by guest artist Makinto.

Makinto, a talented multi-instrumentalist and African Soul artist studying at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, will also perform solo selections throughout the evening and collaborate with Berry on a piano duet for the final musical number. 

Makinto previously performed as a guest artist at EMU’s 2023 Music Gala Concert. He and his wife, Mukarabe, co-founded Amahoro International, a mission organization promoting peace and development in East Africa. Learn more about his journey to EMU here!

The EMU Department of Music partnered with the Center for Interfaith Engagement and Multicultural Student Services to present this concert. It is sponsored by the Music, Peace and Justice grant, in conjunction with the Music & Peacebuilding major.

The EMU Chamber Singers is taking the show on the road.

The auditioned touring chamber choir has released the schedule for its spring break series of performances, held from March 1-6, 2025. During the tour, 22 members will perform at churches around Lancaster, Philadelphia, and Souderton, Pennsylvania, as well as at a retirement community near Lancaster, four high schools, and a music venue in Orange, Virginia. 

The theme of this year’s tour is “Hope and Unity” and features “beautiful singing on the topics of bringing hope and working for unity for our children, healing the earth, and working toward peace,” said Professor Benjamin Bergey, director of the Chamber Singers. “Music has the power to lift us up, allow us to cry or laugh, and bring us together.”

Some of the songs in the program that reflect this theme include the lovely and simple spiritual “Child of God,” the inspirational “Sing My Child,” and “Prayer of the Children.” Bergey said the latter song was written in the war-torn former country of Yugoslavia as a cry for Jesus’ help in a place of desperation.

The tour schedule includes a performance at Nations Worship Center, an Indonesian Mennonite congregation in Philadelphia led by Pastor Beny Krisbianto, MDiv ’15, a member of the EMU Board of Trustees. The Chamber Singers will also join together with area groups, singing alongside the Dock Mennonite Academy choir at Souderton Mennonite Church and the Lancaster Mennonite High School choir at Landis Homes. The tour will cap off with a return to The Music Room on Main in Orange, Virginia. The choir performed at the hardware store-turned-music venue last year and is “back by popular demand,” Bergey said.

The annual spring break tour is often a highlight of the choral students’ college experience and helps them hone their craft through the intensity of the tour, Bergey said. It also serves as a valuable recruiting tool, spreading the love of EMU and maintaining connections with the churches and communities that continue to send students to the university.

Schedule

All performances are free of charge, with a freewill offering collected to support the choir’s travel expenses.

Saturday, March 1, 7 p.m.
Blossom Hill Mennonite Church – Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Sunday, March 2, 10 a.m. 
Nations Worship Center – Philadelphia

Sunday, March 2, 7 p.m.
Salford Mennonite Church – Harleysville, Pennsylvania

Monday, March 3, 7 p.m.
Souderton Mennonite Church – Souderton, Pennsylvania
with Dock Mennonite Academy choir

Tuesday, March 4, 6 p.m.
Landis Homes – Lancaster, Pennsylvania
with Lancaster Mennonite High School choir

Thursday, March 6, 7 p.m.
The Music Room on Main – Orange, Virginia

Members

The choir includes:

SOPRANO
Erin Batten, Bridgewater, Virginia
Reah Clymer, Meridian, Mississippi
Elie Hoover, New Carlisle, Ohio
Hannah Landes Beck, Linville, Virginia
Hollyn Miller, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Riley Quezada, Mount Jackson, Virginia

ALTO
Ciela Acosta, Salem, Oregon
Iris Anderson, Corvallis, Oregon
Lauren Kauffman, Goshen, Indiana
Sophia Kauffman, Goshen, Indiana
Naomi Kratzer, Goshen, Indiana
Emma Nord, Greenville, Illinois

TENOR
Theo Andreas, Bluffton, Ohio
Adam Hoover, New Carlisle, Ohio
Jacob Nissley, Canton, Ohio
Canyon Penner, Goshen, Indiana
Cassidy Williams, Green Lane, Pennsylvania

BASS
Jadon Harley, Bel Air, Maryland
Jesse Kanagy, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lawson Kauffman, Goshen, Indiana
Mac Rhodes-Lehman, Dayton, Virginia
Eli Stoll, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Joshua Stucky, Princeton, New Jersey

Now in its 46th year, the EMU Chamber Singers is a mixed-voice choir made up of 23 EMU students of different ages and majors. For more information about the Chamber Singers, visit the choir’s website or find the group on  and . Consider donating toward the choir’s travel and operating expenses .

Mennonite World Conference is celebrating a momentous milestone next year—the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism—and it’s chosen the EMU Chamber Singers, along with from around the world, to commemorate the historic occasion. Each ensemble represents a different continent and culture within the MWC, and will perform throughout the day on May 29, 2025, at the held in Zurich, Switzerland.

“We are incredibly honored to be the group selected from North America,” said Benjamin Bergey, assistant professor of music at EMU and director of the Chamber Singers. “We’re excited about how unique an opportunity this is for our students to engage with choirs from all over the world.”

The Chamber Singers will be joined by ensembles from Indonesia, Kenya, Paraguay and Switzerland. Each group will have two performances, with one inside a church and another in the city square. They will then perform together at a worship service in the iconic Grossmünster cathedral.

Rashard Allen, who booked the ensembles, said each one is committed to the work of reconciliation in line with the event’s theme, “The Courage to Love.” “They have a global ecumenical outlook in terms of how they understand their role in being an Anabaptist choir/ensemble,” he said in .

The quincentennial celebration will cap off a tour of Europe for the Chamber Singers, who will perform in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland before traveling to Zurich. 

Sing for their support

A of the Voices Together hymnal at Martin Chapel this weekend will raise funds for the Chamber Singers trip. Join members of the Chamber Singers, music faculty and others in the community as they sing through the 750 hymns in Voices Together over the course of three days: on Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Support the choir by donating at the event and by giving online

The Chamber Singers is an auditioned touring chamber choir founded in 1979. The mixed-voice choir is made up of about 20 EMU students of different ages and majors, who tour in the U.S. each spring break and abroad every other May. For more information about the Chamber Singers choir, visit or find it on and .

That’s how the 19 members of the EMU Chamber Singers spent their spring break. From March 2 to 9, they performed at venues in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, and at high schools throughout the Shenandoah Valley. 

The theme of this year’s tour was “Chorus of Peace: Songs of Lament and Hope” and featured selections sung in languages including Sesotho (spoken in Lesotho and South Africa), German, Latin and Italian.

We asked junior Iris Anderson and senior Afton Rhodes-Lehman, members of the Chamber Singers since their first year at EMU, and junior Tyler Williams, now in his second semester with the group, to share their experiences from the tour. 

How did this tour compare to others?

Anderson: We got to go to a bunch of high schools nearby and sing for them and tell them about EMU. There were a few high schools that a member or two had attended, and so it was fun to see them interact with their high school choir director and see where they came from.

Rhodes-Lehman: On tour, you see your local community in a way you haven’t before. We were going to places I hadn’t been exposed to, like Mennonite churches I haven’t gone to, so that was exciting. 

Williams: This is actually my first spring tour with the Chamber Singers. I can’t speak for other Chamber Singers tours, but I can compare it with other choir tours I’ve been on. This tour was the most fun and one of the easiest I’ve been on, simply because of the people I was surrounded by.

EMU Chamber Singers at the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C., on March 2. (Photos by Rachel Schrock Photography / EMU)

Did you have a favorite venue?

Anderson: It’s hard to pick a favorite. We sang in the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C., which was a cool place to sing in because it was so big and resonant and sounds beautiful to sing there. The Music Room in Orange, Virginia, was probably one of my favorite concerts. It was a great place. Despite it being a former hardware store, it had pretty good acoustics. And, we sang with the Rapidan Orchestra.

Rhodes-Lehman: I loved singing at the high schools. There are some high schoolers I’ve worked with through EMU’s summer musical theater program, so I was excited to get to sing for them.

Williams: My favorite venue was definitely the sanctuary of First Mennonite Church in Richmond. I know a lot of others enjoyed singing at The Music Room. I, unfortunately, got sick on the tour, so I wasn’t able to sing with them there, but from what I heard, I’m extremely jealous that I missed that opportunity.

What was your favorite memory of the tour?

Anderson: I loved hanging out with the people in choir. It’s a great group of people, so it was great to spend time with them and get to know them a little better and have fun. I frequently said to my friends on the trip: “I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this much.” There was a lot of laughter and good connection. All the churches were so generous and gave us dinner. Most nights, we would perform and go home with a host family and get a little glimpse into their lives for a night, like a mini-crosscultural experience.

Rhodes-Lehman: We got to perform in front of the reflection pool on the National Mall and that was fun. We put together our own little band based on instruments that people could play. That day, we probably did at least 12 songs.

Williams: My favorite moments were probably the car rides to and from performances and high schools. That’s where I got to know everybody on a deeper level and I feel so incredibly connected to everyone in Chamber Singers because of those long commutes. I also loved getting to know my host families when we sang at churches for services and concerts.

Answers have been edited for conciseness.

The theme of this year’s tour is “Chorus of Peace: Songs of Lament and Hope.” Benjamin Bergey, director of the Chamber Singers, said he felt it was important to “lean into the idea of hope in a way that’s authentic and holds space for a range of emotions.”

“Hope is super important to us as humans,” he said.

A concert program for the tour lists selections sung in languages ranging from Sesotho (Lesotho and South Africa) to German, Latin and Italian. Other selections include the hymn Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal, a choral arrangement of Sting’s Fragile, and , as performed by the Native Hawaiian musician and singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. As part of the latter arrangement, a few performers will strum ukuleles along with the singing.

In addition to performing at the churches and venues listed on the tour schedule below, the Chamber Singers will perform at eight high schools throughout the Shenandoah Valley.

“By staying closer than previous years’ tours, we have the opportunity to go to a lot of our feeder high schools,” Bergey said. “This allows us to connect with a lot of their music and choral programs.”

Tour Schedule

All performances are free of charge and a free will offering will be taken to support the choir’s travel expenses.

• Saturday, March 2, 4:30 p.m.: Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C.
• Sunday, March 3, 11 a.m.: Hyattsville Mennonite Church in Hyattsville, Maryland
• Sunday, March 3, 7 p.m.: Daniels Run Peace Church in Fairfax, Virginia
• Tuesday, March 5, 7 p.m.: Waynesboro Mennonite Church in Waynesboro, Virginia
• Thursday, March 7, 7 p.m.: The Music Room on Main in Orange, Virginia
• Friday, March 8, 7 p.m.: First Mennonite Church in Richmond, Virginia
• Saturday, March 9, 7 p.m.: Charlottesville Mennonite Church in Charlottesville, Virginia

Members

The choir includes:

Iris Anderson, Corvallis, Oregon

Hannah Landes Beck, Linville, Virginia

Reah Clymer, Meridian, Mississippi

Maggie Garber, Broadway, Virginia

Adam Hoover, New Carlisle, Ohio

Elie Hoover, New Carlisle, Ohio

Thaddeus Jackson, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Jesse Kanagy, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lauren Kauffman, Goshen, Indiana

Philip Krabill, Elkhart, Indiana

Caleb Metzler, York, Pennsylvania

Aaron Moyer, Broadway, Virginia

Jacob Nissley, Canton, Ohio

Emma Nord, Greenville, Illinois

Canyon Penner, Goshen, Indiana

Riley Quezada, Mount Jackson, Virginia

Afton Rhodes-Lehman, Dayton, Virginia

Eli Stoll, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Tyler Williams, Green Lane, Pennsylvania

The EMU Chamber Singers is an auditioned touring chamber choir now in its 45th year. The mixed-voice choir is made up of 19 EMU students of different ages and majors. For more information about the Chamber Singers, visit their website or find them on . Consider donating toward their travel and operating expenses.

Can’t wait until the tour to hear the singers? Give them a listen on Spotify below:

The recording is part of the historically black university’s Homecoming Gospel Concert, held at 6 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 15, at United Nations Church, 214 Cowardin Ave., Richmond.

It will feature a special guest appearance from Grammy Award-winning gospel artist Bishop Hezekiah Walker, as well as performances from other prominent gospel musicians.

Walker, known for songs such as “Every Praise,” “God Favored Me” and “I Need You to Survive,” established the Hezekiah Walker Center for Gospel Music at Virginia Union University in 2021. Its programs include Gospel Heritage; Song Writing, Publishing and Licensing; and Business of Gospel Music.

“Hezekiah Walker is as prominent an artist in gospel music as anyone you could imagine in any other field, like Michael Jordan in basketball or Taylor Swift in pop music,” said EMU Music Program Director David Berry.

“It’s a pretty big concert,” said Chamber Singers Director Benjamin Bergey. “A lot of really great musicians and a lot of great music.”

“And then, at the end is this culmination-collaboration in sort of a ‘We Are the World’ feel,” added Bergey, referencing the 1985 multi-platinum hit featuring Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder, among others.

Michele Clay, director of the Hezekiah Walker Center, remarked on the significance of the event.

“This is the first time that the VUU Gospel Choir is doing a live recording,” she said. “This is VUU history!”

President Susan Schultz Huxman said details are being worked out for EMU to host the VUU Gospel Choir in Harrisonburg next year for a concert.

“It will be exciting,” she said. “We’d love to make this a regular faith-inspired, peace and justice musical partnership!”

Plans came together last year when a board member of VUU and the Commonwealth Alliance of Rural Colleges — of which EMU is a member — approached Huxman and VUU President and CEO Dr. Hakim J. Lucas and proposed the idea of a joint music concert.

Huxman said the schools share many similarities. Both schools are faith-inspired private universities with excellent music programs, both have seminaries central to their identities and both value peace, justice and diversity.

“Like VUU, EMU is all about opening doors, removing barriers and creating cultures where students can feel they belong and they can become their authentic selves and find their calling,” Huxman said.

But the partnership also recognizes their differences, she added.

“We celebrate what the coming together of these two schools can yield: VUU is an HBCU; EMU is a PWI [predominantly white institution]. VUU is in an urban part of the state; EMU is located in a rural part of the state. VUU brings the musical heritage of a gospel choir; EMU brings a musical heritage of hymns sung in four-part harmony.”

“I Need You to Survive,” which will be the one song featuring the EMU Chamber Singers and orchestra strings, is just one of many recorded on Sunday. Huxman said event organizers wish to submit a recording of the entire concert for a Grammy Award.

Chamber Singers is an auditioned touring chamber choir founded in 1979. The mixed-voice choir is made up of more than 15 EMU students of different majors and ages. The ensemble tours in the U.S. each spring break and abroad every other May.

Virginia Union University is a premier liberal arts institution and publicly serving HBCU with recognition as a private institution through the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Founded in 1865, Virginia Union University was originally established to give newly emancipated slaves an opportunity for education and advancement. Today, the university is a center for excellence focusing on preparing and developing today’s students to become advanced leaders of tomorrow.

“If you don’t like it, just wait five minutes and it will change,” quotes the acclaimed soprano, whose husband hails from Kiwiland.

It’s a tongue-in-cheek adage applied to any region that sees variable weather, but Bender says it can also be used to describe her upcoming musical extravaganza: “If you don’t like what’s happening, wait five minutes and it’ll be a completely different experience,” she says. 

The operatic superstar is performing, directing and producing the Music Celebration Concert: An Evening with Madeline Bender on Friday. She promises everything from jazz and Great American Songbook standards to “very serious” French and German pieces, beloved opera arias and even some musical sketch comedy.

“It’s going to be a zany night of a lot of different kinds of things,” she says. “It’ll be like a tasting menu, except with music and theater.”

The ��ݮ���� Chamber Singers will feature at the event, as will the drama department, jazz ensemble and local actors and performers of all ages, resulting in what Bender calls “a cast of thousands.”

“I think people need to expect the unexpected,” she says. “There are so many people involved in this concert.”

“My favorite part of music-making is collaborating, and I would rather make it a party,” she adds. “The more, the merrier.”

The concert, held at Lehman Auditorium at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct.13, helps kick off EMU Homecoming and Family Weekend 2023. 

Tickets to the show are $10 in advance, $15 at the door and free for EMU students with ID or for children 12 and younger. They can be purchased .

Email alumni@emu.edu for instructions on how to access a free Facebook livestream of the event.

A complete list of events and activities is on the Homecoming and Family Weekend website.

Bender is an accomplished opera singer, arts entrepreneur and educator. She is the founder of Creative Stage, which teaches children across Manhattan programs in music, theater, dance and filmmaking. She is also the founder and director of Creative Stage Collective, a not-for-profit theater company that develops musical sketch comedy based on the imaginative ideas of children.

She has been praised by The New York Times for her “charimatic stage presence,” “voluptuous soprano” and “theatrical flair.”

Finding her voice at EMU

Bender, who lives in New York City with her husband Paul Whelan, a baritone and bass-baritone singer, and their 14-year-old son, may have been destined to attend EMU.

Her parents, former educators Jon Scott ’62 and Nancy Shank Bender ’64, were EMU alums, as well as many of her friends and neighbors around Harrisonburg, and later, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The choice to attend EMU may have been an easy one for her to make, but the decision to major in music was not quite as simple.

Bender arrived at EMU intent on graduating with a health professions degree. At the time, she says, a career in the performing arts felt like it wouldn’t help others. 

But her involvement in the Chamber Singers under then-Professor Kenneth J. Nafziger — as well as nearly every other ensemble on campus — provided her a supportive environment that helped her realize she could also serve others with her voice.

Back in the early ’90s, EMU may not have had an opera program or a diction coach or “all the bells and whistles,” she says. But it taught her to be resourceful. 

“I put on two opera programs, I learned to produce, I learned how to cast and direct a show, and now, that’s my job,” she says. 

After graduating from EMU, Bender earned her master’s degree from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.

And although she hasn’t performed professionally for about a decade, she says she’s thoroughly enjoyed practicing for Friday’s big event.

“The engine is back and running again.”

Among the highlights of the trip include singing in—and visiting—two historic cathedrals in Germany: the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where J.S. Bach worked for many years, and the Frauenkirche in Munich. Students will also have the opportunity to “receive European Mennonite hospitality,” as many of the churches will host them for a night.

“I am excited to share this experience with students in these incredible locations and to share our music with these various communities,” said Professor Benjamin Bergey, director of the Chamber Singers.

The program includes songs such as “Shenandoah,” a classic song about the Shenandoah Valley; “Sing Each Other Home,” a piece the Chamber Singers and EMU’s music and peacebuilding program commissioned the Harrisonburg-based Walking Roots Band to write; and “Could It Be That God Is Singing,” a hymn in the Southern Harmony tradition by Mennonite poet Becca J R Lachman.

Other songs include “A New Leaf” by Bradley Lehman, a local composer and father of choir member Afton Rhodes-Lehman; “Eagles’ Wings” by EMU alumnus Sam Kauffman ‘12; and “Wake Up, My Spirit” by Virginia-based contemporary African American composer Adolphus Hailstork.

Performances are free of charge, and a live offering will be taken to support the choir’s travel expenses.

The EMU Chamber Singers is an auditioned touring chamber choir now in its 44th year. The mixed-voice choir is made up of more than 15 EMU students of different ages and majors. The ensemble tours in the U.S. each spring break and will tour abroad every other May starting with this international tour, which is the first of any EMU ensemble since music professor Ken J. Nafziger led the Chamber Singers to Cuba in 2003.

Schedule 

May 9, 7:30 p.m. 
Doopsgezinde Kerk (Singelkerk) – Amsterdam, Netherlands 

May 10, 7:30 p.m. 
Doopsgezinde Kerk – Utrecht, Netherlands 

May 11, 8 p.m.
Doopsgezinde Kerk – Witmarsum, Netherlands 

May 13, 5 p.m. 
Thomaskirche – Leipzig, Germany 

May 14, 10 a.m. 
Evangelische-Mennonitische Freikirche – Dresden, Germany 

May 16, 7:30 p.m. 
Mennonitengemeinde – Ingolstadt, Germany 

May 17, noon 
Frauenkirche – Munich, Germany 

May 18, 7:30 p.m. 
Mennonitengemeinde – Owingen, Germany 

May 19, 8:15 p.m. 
Eglise Evangelique Mennonite – Ingersheim, France 

May 20, 7 p.m. 
Mennonitengemeinde – Weierhof, Germany 

May 21, 10 a.m. 
Mennonitengemeinde – Enkenbach, Germany

Members

The choir includes:

Iris Anderson, Corvallis, Oregon

Reah Clymer, Meridian, Mississippi

Maggie Garber, Broadway, Virginia

Thaddeus Jackson, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Philip Krabill, Elkhart, Indiana

Naomi Kratzer, Goshen, Indiana

Hannah Landes Beck, Linville, Virginia

Hollyn Miller, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Aaron Moyer, Broadway, Virginia

Jacob Nissley, Canton, Ohio

Canyon Penner, Goshen, Indiana

Afton Rhodes-Lehman, Dayton, Virginia

Sophia Sherrill, Goshen, Indiana; Higashikurume, Tokyo, Japan

Savannah Smith, Key West, Florida

Joshua Stucky, Princeton, New Jersey

Brynn Yoder, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Andrew Zook, Canton, Ohio

Find the EMU Chamber Singers on and .

“I wanted to include some local composers and styles to bring a taste from our home while also exploring a range of other styles and composers from around the world,” said Professor Benjamin Bergey, director of the Chamber Singers.

Highlights include songs about and in the tradition of the area, such as “Shenandoah,” a classic song about the Shenandoah Valley; “Sing Each Other Home,” a piece the Chamber Singers and EMU’s music and peacebuilding program commissioned the Harrisonburg-based Walking Roots Band to write; and “Could It Be That God Is Singing,” a hymn in the Southern Harmony tradition by poet Becca J R Lachman from Goshen, Indiana.

Other songs include “A New Leaf” by Bradley Lehman, a local composer and father of choir member Afton Rhodes-Lehman; “Eagles’ Wings” by EMU alumnus Sam Kauffman ‘12; and “Wake Up, My Spirit” by Virginia-based contemporary African American composer Adolphus Hailstork.

The EMU Chamber Singers is an auditioned touring chamber choir now in its 44th year. The mixed-voice choir is made up of more than 15 EMU students of different ages and majors. The ensemble tours in the U.S. each spring break and will tour abroad every other May starting this year. The select vocal group performs choral arrangements from various periods, styles and cultures. 

Schedule

All evening performances are free and open to the public.

Members

The choir includes:

Iris Anderson, Corvallis, Oregon

Maggie Garber, Broadway, Virginia

Thaddeus Jackson, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Philip Krabill, Elkhart, Indiana

Naomi Kratzer, Goshen, Indiana

Hannah Landes Beck, Linville, Virginia

Hollyn Miller, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Aaron Moyer, Broadway, Virginia

Jacob Nissley, Canton, Ohio

Afton Rhodes-Lehman, Dayton, Virginia

Sophia Sherrill, Goshen, Indiana; Higashikurume, Tokyo, Japan

Savannah Smith, Key West, Florida

Joshua Stucky, Princeton, New Jersey

Brynn Yoder, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Andrew Zook, Canton, Ohio

Find the EMU Chamber Singers on and .

The ��ݮ���� Chamber Singers have announced a spring break tour to Pennsylvania. The group will give 10 performances in southern Pennsylvania at various churches, school chapels, and a retirement community. The program features selections on the theme of “I Will Give You Rest,” an exploration of peace and rest through music. 

The select vocal group, directed by Professor Benjamin Bergey, performs choral arrangements from various periods, styles and cultures. Music and non-music majors are included.

“Touring is such a great way to reach out to other communities, especially those with alumni, prospective students and donors,” Bergey said. “Going on tour as a music ensemble is also one of the best ways to build camaraderie and cohesion, which improves the quality of the group, not to mention builds a sense of community and belonging.”

All performances are free and open to the public.

• Friday, Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m., East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.
• Saturday, Feb. 29, 10 a.m., Landis Homes, Lititz, Pa.
• Saturday, Feb. 29, 4 p.m., Akron Mennonite Church, Akron, Pa.
• Sunday, March 1, 9:30 a.m., Blooming Glen Mennonite Church, Blooming Glen, Pa.
• Sunday, March 1, 7 p.m., Salford Mennonite Church, Harleysville, Pa.
• Monday, March 2, 7 p.m., Swamp Mennonite Church, Quakertown, Pa.
• Tuesday, March 3, 7 p.m., Marion Mennonite Church, Chambersburg, Pa.

The choir includes Brynn Yoder, Harrisonburg, Va.; Jareya Harder, Mountain Lake, Minn.; Leah Wenger, Harrisonburg, Va.; Andrew Stoltzfus, Harrisonburg, Va.; Nathaniel Partha Roy, Takoma Park, Md.; Anna Hoover, New Carlisle, Ohio; Stephanie Kniss, Chambersburg, Pa.; Sarah Ressler, Kidron, Ohio; Lucas Wenger, Harrisonburg, Va.; Anna Ressler, Kidron, Ohio; Joseph Seitz, Harrisonburg, Va.; Isaac Longacre, Quakertown, Pa.; and Andrew Burks, Purcellville, Va.

The honor, co-sponsored by the Forbes Center, the Arts Council of the Valley, and the College of Visual and Performing Arts at James Madison University, recognizes “individuals and organizations in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley that enhance and strengthen the cultural community by promoting and advocating for artistic excellence.”

Nafziger – hymnal editor, choral conductor, and founder, conductor and artistic director – has done precisely that.

The timing of the awards presentation was fitting, as shortly after Nafziger began channeling his music-making prowess into the 23rd annual festival, a week-long summer event which gathers musicians and singers from around the country. Three concerts, all in Lehman Auditorium, remain on the schedule: Friday and Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m., and the Sunday morning Leipzig service at 10 a.m.

The award ‘belongs to us all’

During his acceptance speech, Nafziger celebrated the collaborative efforts of his many fellow musicians: “This award is a reminder that, in my primary means of music-making, which is conducting, there is nothing I can do alone. Therefore, this Circle of Excellence award belongs to us all who have often shared workspace – concert hall stage, or rehearsal room, or church – each in some way a playground of the inner life. I cherish the sounds, the beauty, the work, the risks, the joys and the moments that we have experienced together.”

He also saluted past recipients Stan Swartz, a theater teacher at Harrisonburg High School, and OASIS Fine Art & Craft, a Harrisonburg art cooperative.

A member of the faculty at EMU since 1977, he was nominated for the award by his colleague, Professor . (Griffing, concertmaster of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra, was unavailable to comment).

“Due to his many years of experience and stellar reputation as a conductor, the Bach Festival regularly attracts highly talented instrumental and choral musicians from around the U.S. and Canada each summer,” wrote President in his supporting letter to Griffing’s nomination.

To the region and beyond

In addition to the Bach Festival, Nafziger has a long legacy of bringing musical excellence to the region. This is his 20th year as the music director of , a chamber choir based in Winchester. With both Musica Viva and the EMU , he’s toured widely in local venues, including participating in and planning worship services of various denominations.

Mennonite congregations in the Valley and indeed, all of North America, also worship using the songbook staples that bear his editing mark– Hymnal: A Worship Book, Sing the Journey and Sing the Story.

“Ken is known across the Mennonite Church, and in many other denominations, as a dynamic worship planner and leader,” wrote Swartzendruber.

Nafziger has also opened the world to area musicians, taking both choral groups on tours of Cuba, and traveling himself to the island as a guest conductor, master class professor and project collaborator.

As his acceptance speech suggests, Nafziger’s unflagging enthusiasm and dynamism will continue to shape the Shenandoah Valley’s music scene.

“This honor is encouragement to keep on musicking – no slowing down, no quitting, no easing up,” said Nafziger. “Rather, it tells me that I should take seriously this terse bit of American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser’s advice, ‘If your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt!’”

 For more information about the remaining Bach Festival concerts, click . For tickets, click .

A freewill offering will be taken at Sunday’s 10 a.m. Leipzig service.