‘A taste of heaven’
WELS choirs sing to capacity crowdBy KURT NESBITT Journal Staff Writer
Article Photos
NEW ULM - MVL basketball usually doesn't see the type of crowd like the one that filled that high school's gym on Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps it was because the basketball court was covered in chairs for the audience.
Perhaps it was because of the sheer numbers of the people that attended the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod's 2008 West Regional Choral Festival, held Sunday afternoon at MVL.
The bleachers at the west end of the gym were a sea of multi-colored choir robes worn by singers from 15 WELS schools. They singers were arranged according to the range they sang.
Parents, classmates, WELS school officials, clergy and others filled the remainder of the gym.
An estimated crowd of 1,300 people attended the concert. Sunday's event was the second part of the festival and focused entirely on sacred music. The individual choirs performed a pops concert Friday night.
Beginning at 2 p.m., the combined choir began with "Solo Deo Gloria" by Marty Haugen and went through 90 minutes of hymns, including "Sing Unto God," "Diffusa est Gratia," "Open Thou Mine Eyes," "Amazing Grace," "The Dream Isaiah Saw," "Betlehemu," "Kyrie from Memorial," "When I survey the Wondrous Cross," "Glory to God," "Psalm 23," "O Christ the Same," "The Last Words of David" and "Speak, O Lord," which was arranged by MVL grad Jeremy Bakken.
Before the crowd and the choir joined together for the last number, "Father, God of Grace, You Knew Us," Johnathan Pasbrig, director of the Arizona Lutheran Academy Choir from Phoenix, called on the members of the different choirs to stand up one by one so the audience could recognize them.
When he was finished, Pasbrig said something that brought the capacity crowd to its feet. He turned to the choir as a whole and thanked them.
"Thank you so much for giving us a taste of heaven today," he said.
The 1,300-member crowd responded to the comment with a standing ovation.
"It's obviously good for the students and the families of our school. It's good for the members of our choir to have a concert with other Lutherans because they get to spend time together and they become friends and its a great event for the community to come and see," said MVL principal Tim Platz.
Platz said the festival is held every two years and is either a national festival or a regional festival. He said the festival came to MVL this year through a rotation that the WELS high schools use to determine the festival's location. He said the size of a school"s facilities are a factor in the synod's decision.
WELS high school choirs from Phoenix, Milwaukee, New Ulm, West St. Paul and Plymouth joined a choir from South Dakota, one from Nebraska and one from Colorado and choirs from six WELS high schools around Wisconsin for the festival.
