Choral

Head of Choral Area

• Professor Eric Reyes

Chapel Choir

Chapel Choir is an advanced SATB vocal ensemble that meets three times a week to study, rehearse and perform vocal music throughout the semester.  Performances may take place both on and off campus.  In this course, students will study various vocal techniques pertaining to the repertoire selected.  Students in this course will seek to have a grasp of the western choral canon, as well as the music of cultures and traditions throughout the world.  This ensemble is open to all students by audition. 

DIRECTOR

Professor Eric Reyes

COURSE LISTING

MUS 115

Audition required

SPERA

SPERA is a treble vocal ensemble that meets twice a week to study, rehearse, and perform vocal music throughout the semester.  Performances may take place on and off campus.  This ensemble seeks to highlight works composed by women, as well as perform repertoire that ranges from the western SSAA choral canon to new 20th/21st century compositions, both domestically and internationally.  This ensemble is open to all treble voices by audition.

COURSE LISTING

MUS 117

Audition required

College Chorus

College Chorus is an SATB vocal ensemble that meets once per week to study, rehearse and perform vocal music throughout the semester.  This ensemble is open to all who are interested, including faculty, staff, and community members.  Together, College Chorus seeks to study various vocal techniques in accordance with the repertoire, and begin to explore the breadth of vocal repertoire form the traditional western choral canon, to the music of other cultures and traditions throughout the world.  No audition is required. 

DIRECTOR

Professor Eric Reyes

COURSE LISTING

MUS 116

No audition required 

Opera Workshop

Opera Workshop is offered in the spring semester, providing the opportunity for students to combine stage movement, acting and singing in the context of the performance of scenes and full productions of operas and musical dramas.

DIRECTOR

Dr. Sarah VandenBrink

Course Listing

MUS 155

Audition required

Gospel Choir

The Gospel Choir is a group of students who have come together from all different backgrounds, cultures and denominations to glorify God through worship in a variety of gospel and contemporary Christian music styles. This ensemble performs quite often in weekly Chapel services and the Gathering.

Learn more about Gospel Choir at Campus Ministries.

DIRECTOR

CJ Grier

No audition required

Luminescence

The newest of Hope’s choral ensembles, Luminescence has been in operation since fall of 2003. Its founders modeled the group after 12th Street Harmony, and, like its male counterpart, Luminescence receives a variety of performance opportunities on and off campus. 

CONTACT

Professor Eric Reyes

COURSE LISTING

Audition required

12th St. Harmony

This male a cappella ensemble was created in 2001 and quickly became a sought-after performing group on campus and throughout the Holland community. With oversight from the Director of Choral Activities, the day-to-day running of 12th Street Harmony is self-directed by members within the group. Recently, they appeared on the local news channel WZZM 13. Watch the broadcast.

CONTACT 

Professor Eric Reyes

COURSE LISTING

Audition required

The Hope College Chapel Choir uses special robes created by the most influential designers of the 20th century. 

The Chapel Choir Robes

The Chapel Choir robes were designed 50 years ago by Charles and Ray Eames, a husband-and-wife team among the most influential designers of the 20th century. Filmmakers, poets, painters and furniture designers, the couple was hired in the 1940s as consultants by the Herman Miller Company, which had been impressed by a widely acclaimed furniture-design exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art featuring the work of Charles Eames. In 1952, when the Herman Miller Company started a mixed chorus, Ray Eames offered to design robes for the choir. No one knows whether the robes were produced in California, where Charles and Ray kept an office, or in Holland, where some believe they were sewn by local seamstresses. In 1960, the Herman Miller Mixed Chorus disbanded and the robes were given to Hope College, where they became the performing apparel of the Chapel Choir.

The robe colors are intended to symbolize the four primary voice parts, from highest and brightest (yellow) to lowest and darkest (purple). The black horizontal lines represent an extended grand staff, and the other black swatches stand for random notes in the universe. Purity of tone and faith are represented by the prevailing white that appears on every surplice. No one would ever describe these robes as subtle; they are very much in line with the bold and quirky designs of mid-century modernism. But, as the work of Charles and Ray Eames, they hold a special place in 20th century art and design, and would be at home in art galleries everywhere.