The Gustavus Choir will wrap up its 2025 spring tour of the East Coast by returning to the Hill for a traditional Home Concert on Saturday, March 15, at 7 p.m. in Christ Chapel.
This is one of several music events happening on campus this weekend. The Gustavus Wind Symphony and Jazz Lab Collective will perform beginning at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Jussi Bjorling Hall, and the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra will hold its 2025 Winter Concert on Sunday, March 16, at 7 p.m., also in Bjorling.
The Choir’s Home Concert caps its recent foray to the Northeast, the ensemble’s first tour of the region in more than a decade, which saw it perform six shows in seven days in the New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC areas.
Called, “by the last tree,” the tour’s theme was a musically metaphorical exploration of the endangerment and extinction of bird life across the world. “Birds and their vibrant melodies have long symbolized freedom, renewal, peace, spiritual elevation, and transcendence beyond earthly limitations,” wrote Conductor Brandon Dean in the tour program. “However, as their populations decline and their songs grow silent, they also mirror the quiet erosion of hope in a world increasingly dominated by self-interest and neglect.”
For Choir singer Jillian Elton ‘25, the tour was a fitting conclusion to her Gustavus music experience, given how the intensity of the week fosters bonding among the Choir singers. “My first Choir tour was our other recent national tour to the West Coast, so it was a bittersweet ‘bookend’ experience for me,” she said. “The community in the Choir is strengthened during tours in a way that’s different from the rest of the year. We all care about each other deeply and rely on one another to get through the long week.”
She added that, far from being repetitive, the performances present different challenges and opportunities. “Each show is unique in so many ways. [A venue’s] acoustics mean we sound different in every venue, so it’s fun for me to listen to the singers around me and adapt our sound to each space in real time,” said Elton, who also looks forward to post-show conversations with audience members. “It’s fulfilling to get positive feedback and appreciation from Choir alumni and other attendees and to know that our music is impactful. I always remind myself that each audience is hearing us for the first time, which keeps each performance fresh and new.”
Concluding the tour with a Home Concert becomes a fulfilling way for the entire Choir to showcase for our community what they’ve been showing the world, and to reflect on a job well done. “I really look forward to our home concerts,” Elton said. “After being on the road for so long—in places that I’ve never been and in venues we’ve never sung in before—it’s comforting to know that we can come home and perform our tour set one more time for our friends and family in our Christ Chapel. It kind of feels like a ‘victory lap’ at the end of a race. We can celebrate the end of our tour together and share the growth, community, and musical ‘end product’ we’ve made with others.”