Northwestern College A cappella Choir to tour Taiwan

Northwestern College’s A cappella Choir will tour and perform in Taiwan during the college’s spring break March 7–13.

The 42-member ensemble will give concerts in Taipei and Hualien, some of which will be joint performances with other Taiwanese choirs. The Northwestern students will sing at middle and high schools, two seminaries, a university, several churches and a hospital. They will also present a workshop and master class for conductors.

Dr. Thomas Holm, the A cappella Choir’s director and professor of music at Northwestern, has chosen a repertoire consisting of sacred music in both English and Latin; American spirituals and black gospel songs; and three pieces that will be familiar to their audiences: two Taiwanese folk songs and a popular Chinese love song. The latter will be sung with a Taiwanese children’s choir during a joint concert in Taipei.

“We’ve spent time learning about the culture, history, language, politics and religion of Taiwan,” Holm says. “We’re eager to emerge from this experience educated, changed and enlightened in ways that wouldn’t be possible in a traditional classroom, and we are grateful for Northwestern’s support of experiences like this for our students.”

The A cappella Choir tour is taking place in partnership with the National Presbyterian Church of Taiwan. It was arranged by Ming-Chen “Grace” Lo Rohrer, Northwestern’s international student counselor and native of Taiwan. Rohrer will serve as the choir’s interpreter.

Area residents will have the opportunity to hear music from the tour during the A cappella’s home concert on Friday, March 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel.