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New Ulm’s Concord Singers celebrate their 85th anniversary with concert

Staff photo by Connor Cummiskey The Concord Singers and the Cold Spring Area Maennerchor, directed by Pat Sonnek, sing together during the Singers’ 85th Anniversary Concert Saturday at the New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — It took took two bilingual choruses to do justice to the Concord Singers 85th Anniversary Saturday.

The Concord Singers and the Cold Spring Area Maennerchor joined voices in the New Ulm High School auditorium Saturday evening in the Concords’ 85th anniversary concert. They started the concert with a joint performance. Then each group took turns performing on their own, before wrapping up together again with “Die Himmel Ruhmen.”

“I hope (our fans) enjoy the mass numbers where both choruses are onstage together,” Concord Singers Business Manager Dick Seeboth said. “We have been working on this for a long time and we want everyone to have fun.”

The combined choruses voices filled the auditorium as they performed energetic and fun folk music in both English and German.

The two groups could not have looked more different. The Concord Singers were dressed in lederhosen and red checkered shirts and the Maennerchor in tuxedos and red bow ties.

Despite their visually distinct styles, the Maennerchor and the Concord Singers weaved their voices into full and joyful harmony.

The singers refer to their musical genre as “festive German music” according to their program.

Dubbed New Ulm’s Ambassadors of Good Will, the Concord Singers travel extensively throughout the USA and Canada as well as having toured through Europe four times.

The Singer’s base themselves off of a heritage of German singers in New Ulm that stretches back as early as the 1860’s, according to their website. They bill themselves as one of the foremost amateur German-language male choruses in America.

The Cold Spring Area Maennerchor originally formed as Cold Spring Glee Club. The group was disbanded during World War II and was unable to truly revive itself until Jay Engel reorganized it as the Maennerchor in 1973, according to their website.

The Maennerchor also travels extensively, including three European tours — the highlight of which was a performance during evening Mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Vatican City, according to their website.

“This is the second time they have visited us here in New Ulm to take the stage with us,” Seeboth said. “They are a reasonably old organization as well; they were founded in 1938 — we are ’31. They also celebrate their German heritage, probably not as deeply as we do but they do sing German.”

The Concord Singer’s schedule and eight CD’s can be found on their website – concordsingers.com.

The Maennerchor’s website is csmaennerchor.com. There fans can find their upcoming events and listen to their music.

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