Hendricks Chapel Choir to tour South Africa for first time

The 50-member mixed ensemble will perform a range of choral and organ works while also engaging in collaborative sessions with local musicians and institutions in each city visited.

The tour repertoire includes compositions by Antonio Vivaldi, Cecilia McDowall, Paul Basler, Jennifer Lucy Cook, Jeffrey Ames and José "Peppie" Calvar. The choir will also perform arrangements of traditional South African songs.

The tour is led by Calvar, assistant director of choral activities at the Setnor School of Music. He will be joined by Anne Laver, along with student organists Michael Guarneiri and Anne Spink, who will both accompany the choir and perform as vocalists.

Calvar said the ensemble was looking forward to engaging with audiences and musicians in South Africa.

“The Hendricks Chapel Choir is thrilled to be taking a performance tour of South Africa. As students at Syracuse University, the choir is eager to bring a slice of our region to the rest of the world and to foster collaboration through sharing music,” he said.

“We also look forward to collaborating with local audiences on three South African selections.”

The choir’s itinerary will begin at the University of Johannesburg, followed by a joint performance at the Villeria Dutch Reformed Church with the Conwonnite Choir.

Further engagements include a workshop and evening concert at the University of Pretoria, hosted at the Musaion concert venue. The group will also perform alongside the Drakensberg Boys Choir School under the direction of Vaugn van Zyl.

The tour will conclude with a joint performance featuring the University of the Western Cape Creative Arts Choir, co-conducted by Calvar and Leon Starker.

Additional members of the Syracuse University delegation include Ken Harper from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, who has previously collaborated with South African organisations such as Inkululeko, iKapa Impact and the School of Journalism and Media Studies Rhodes University.

Also accompanying the group is Dara Harper, who will document the tour through interviews and multimedia coverage.

Members of the public can attend performances by contacting host institutions directly, while updates on the tour will be available through Hendricks Chapel’s official platforms.