Happy Birthday University Singers!

University Singers perform with the Symphony Orchestra
Keith Thienemann

University Singers is ostensibly about making beautiful choral music. But it is much more than that. As the group celebrates its 50th fiftieth anniversary this year, it confirms the power of music to not only to inspire, but also to build community and foster long-lasting friendships.

"University Singers inhabits an interesting hybrid place as both a for-credit class in performance and also something that becomes much more than a class — a group that at its best becomes a family," said Michael Slon, assistant professor in the McIntire Department of Music, who is in his seventh year as the ensemble's choral director.

The musical family, which numbers anywhere from 85 to 90 students each semester, is a faculty-led performance course with students sharing administrative leadership roles that include handling concert arrangements, producing newsletters and programs, arranging social activities and even getting the risers on the stage. The collaboration "gives me a special opportunity to interact with the students in a way most faculty don't enjoy. I have the advantage that many of them sing in the ensemble for the four years they are here and I get a chance to know them as people and see them develop and grow," Slon said.

Singers are drawn from all areas of the University and build relationships across academic disciplines. "It's nice that such a diverse group can come together over this shared interest," said fourth-year systems engineering major Scott Meadows, an ensemble member since his first year. Meadows is the group's president and in the past has served as social secretary and concert manager. "It's so rewarding for everyone that has been involved. Everyone finds a way to take it upon themselves to build community."

Ryan Fleenor, a 2006 graduate and the group's alumni liaison, said members of the University Singers "became like family to me. Coming to rehearsal was more like coming home than going to class."

Leah Bernick, a third-year English and drama double-major, joined University Singers her first semester. The ensemble provides the "sense of community I was looking for at college," she said. "I have developed friends that I will have for a lifetime."

Bernick also appreciates opportunities the group has had to be part of the University's major events, including performing at Fall Convocation for the past two years. One memory she will treasure was singing at the Capital Campaign Kickoff Gala in 2006. "It's exciting to become part of a University tradition as a group."

When it was founded in 1957, the ensemble, then known as the Virginia Singers, was a different organization, independent of the University. By the time the group came under the sponsorship of the McIntire Department of Music in 1964-65, it was known as the University Singers. It wasn't until 1969-70, under the directorship of music professor Donald Loach, that University Singers became a Music Department offering.

"Up to that time it was predominately town/gown with a few student members," said Loach, who conducted the University Singers for almost 30 years and is now music professor emeritus. "In the 1970s, the real history of the University Singers begins with the admission of women and the offering of academic credit."

One thing that has not changed over the years is the ensemble's constant pursuit of excellence. Loach said the students often told him they felt that he had challenged them and took them beyond their expectations. "They always rose to the challenge of the music," he said.

"The opportunities I had at U.Va. to experience high-quality, high-discipline music-making very much informed my decision to pursue music after school," said alumnus William Bennett, who earned a B.S. in systems engineering and as a student often sang solos with University Singers. Bennett, a lyric tenor, now sings professionally with choruses, small opera houses and symphonies.

Mezzo-soprano Barbara Hollinshead, who sings with early music groups and has performed both in the United States and Europe, earned an economics degree at U.Va. and sang with University Singers in the late 1970s. She credits "Coach Loach" with having "a very strong influence on both my willingness to hear and enjoy singing all sorts of music, especially 20th-century music, and in my choices for interpretation."

Over the years the ensemble's repertoire has included a wide variety of a cappella and accompanied choral music ranging from Gregorian chants to large-scale choral orchestral works that have included Handel's "Messiah," the Brahms Requiem, Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" and Mozart's "Mass in C minor." This year, as part of the 50th anniversary season program offerings, they performed "Carmina Burana" with the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra.

The Singers commissioned American composer Stephen Paulus to compose a piece for the 50th Anniversary Concert on April 5, at which it honored past members in a sold-out concert at Old Cabell Hall and a gala banquet in Abbott Center at the Darden School. The ensemble performed Haydn’s Theresien Mass, a major work with orchestra, as well as celebratory works that have historically been part of the group's ongoing repertoire. Loach was the special guest conductor for the event, and dozens of alumni were invited on stage to perform with the current singers.

The reunion anniversary celebration provided an opportunity to "look at the impact the organization has had on its members and where it is going in the future," Meadows said.