Touring and Chamber Choirs

Touring Choir has, for many years, been an auditioned ensemble of approximately 40 students in 11th and 12th grades.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was revamped to accommodate schedule changes and safety protocol. After a year with no programs, the 2021 choir sang their first program for a parents-only audience on May 16, 2021. You can view that here.

Thankfully, we returned to a more typical schedule in the academic year 2021-22.

The choral worship service the choir leads includes repertoire from classical and contemporary sacred literature, as well as songs from a wide variety of other traditions and styles. Chamber Choir is a select group from within the Touring Choir.

Our faith in Christ is central to our identity as a choir, and we seek to sing in an attitude of worship that goes beyond performance, with a spiritual connection to God, the music, each other, and our audience. We believe choral artistic excellence and worship strengthen and reinforce each other. Eastern Mennonite School was founded over a century ago with vocal music in worship as one of its foundational values, and we are glad for the gift of this musical heritage.

The Touring Choir sings between 20 and 30 local concerts and church programs each year in addition to an annual out-of-state spring tour. The choir also tours Europe during the summer of alternating years. Recent trips have included programs in England, Scotland, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Our church programs are “choral worship services” instead of “concerts” intentionally — our music is about the gospel of Jesus Christ — his love for us, his death for our sins, and his resurrection. Students in our choir come from a number of different denominations and backgrounds and places on the theological spectrum, and from different stripes of Mennonite churches, as well. We focus on the center of our faith, what Christians have believed about Jesus as revealed in Scripture for 2,000 years across time and culture.

Jared Stutzman, director