Bel Canto is an all-women choir led by David Hughes.
Courtesy: Holly Magnuson
Bel Canto’s royal invitation
For the first time in six years, Bel Canto will be spending part of its spring tour overseas. The choir will travel to Poland, where members will use their voices to minster to people in orphanages, hospitals, schools and cathedrals over a two-week period.
“The ministry of Poland began when our members took a leap of faith to commit themselves for every facet of training and the week-to-week rigors of practice,” Bel Canto Director David Hughes said. “Christ’s admonition for us to go abroad to share the Gospel can be fulfilled in a very unique way through Bel Canto: women dedicated to sharing God’s never-failing love for all humankind.”
The choir will partner with Next Generation Missions for the trip, an organization that combines music with ministry and reaches out not only to Poland but also to Jamaica, Scotland and Native American reservations within the U.S.
“It is interesting to think people just like us live on a different side of the world, do different things and speak different languages, but they are just the same as us,” said freshman biology major Stephanie Zarling, a Bel Canto member. “This will be a big culture change and will be a challenge to get used to.”
Poland is slowly becoming a main avenue for Next Generation Missions, as select organization leaders trace family ties directly back to the Polish throne. With this connection, Bel Canto has been cordially invited as guest of the royal family to not only attend, but also perform at the royal ball.
“It’s really cool to see how God is using their royalty to serve him,” Bel Canto President Heidi Chamberlain said. “We have a lot of responsibility to not only uphold APU and Christian values, but we will be ambassadors of the royal family while we are there. We are really blessed to be a part of this and see how God is using that story in Poland to change Poland.”
Poland is known to be a traditional Roman Catholic-based country. To sing Christian songs throughout the week is unheard of for the people in Poland and Bel Canto is working to specifically pick music to move in people’s hearts, according to Chamberlain.
“I want to make an impression on the people I see,” Zarling said. “I want to them to know that I respect their culture and want to be a part of it.”
The choir not only hopes to develop relationships with people in each of the communities but also to continue to bond and deepen the unity among Bel Canto members.
“Not only do we spend class time together and concerts together, but the heart of our group is musical ministry,” Chamberlian said. “Whenever you are doing ministry with people, you are bonded with them. I couldn’t ask for a better last year.”
Bel Canto will depart for Poland May 22 after completing its Northern California tour which begins May 4.
Men’s Chorale is one of six on campus choral ensembles.
Courtesy: T. Brown
Men’s Chorale sings its way to South Korea
On May 1, Men’s Chorale will take flight to Incheon City, South Korea, where members will spend two weeks on tour performing at various venues throughout the country.
University President Jon Wallace presented Men’s Chorale with this opportunity to tour abroad as ambassadors for APU to both minister and make deeper connections with South Korea.
“Our mission from the university is to visit churches and build the bridge between the university and the local church,” Men’s Chorale Director Dr. Harold Clousing said. “So what this is, is building the bridge between the university and an international church.”
South Korea is not entirely a new location for either the university or the music department. Faculty members such as Wallace, Vice President David Bixby, Provost Mark Stanton and Dr. Hae-Seong Park of the Department of Educational Leadership have all spent time building relationships and preaching in South Korean churches. Although the University Choir and Orchestra toured South Korea five years ago, this experience is new to both Clousing and Men’s Chorale.
“We are a ministry choir and our purpose is to minister through song,” said sophomore political science major and bass section leader Jamie Warren. “It’ll be really interesting to see how we affect other people […] being in such a foreign land, seeing other Christians worshiping with us and realizing that Christ and the kingdom does not know borders.”
Men’s Chorale will travel by bus throughout the country, performing at churches that reach an average attendance of 20,000 people on Sunday morning services. According to a 2007 census from the South Korean National Statistical Office, the percentage of Christians in South Korea was 29.2 percent of the population, making Christianity South Korea’s largest religion.
“It is a way to see how another culture worships, how another culture lives and some of how that culture can be influenced by who we are as men of God,” Clousing said.
The biggest challenge for Men’s Chorale will be adapting to the language barrier. Dr. Young K. Kim of the Department of Higher Education Doctoral Programs will accompany the group and translate introductions to each song at every performance in addition to written translations. Men’s Chorale is also working on perfecting two or three Korean pieces before departing.
“[Men’s Chorale] has a really special group of guys,” said senior biology major Michael McClellan, Men’s Chorale president. “We have great attitude and great talent, which is not always the case; it’s usually one or the other.”
During the trip, Clousing hopes to have his group stay in the homes of college students or at major universities to better understand the Korean culture.
“What we normally see during tour is that the brotherhood cements in a way it never has before,” McClellan said. “When you spend two weeks, in two crowded buses and doing home stays with people, you get really close to the guys and become this huge family. And that is so much fun to be a part of.”