The Hendricks Chapel Choir will embark on a two-week, three-country musical and culture tour of South America on Monday, May 11. The 41-member choir, ranging from first-year students to graduate students, will perform a program of American choral music and South American pieces at venues in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. This website will feature photos and reflections from choir members as they travel.

The choir will perform under the direction of John F. Warren, director of choral activities in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and the choir’s conductor. The choir will be accompanied by Kola Owolabi, assistant professor in VPA and University organist, and on percussion by Joshua Dekaney, affiliate artist in VPA.

For its South American tour, the choir will perform a program of 20th-century compositions, American hymns, American folksongs, African American spirituals and gospel music during concerts in Santiago and Vina Del Mar, Chile; Rosario and Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Colonia and Montevideo, Uruguay. Each will conclude with the choir performing “America the Beautiful” and “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” in Spanish.

The choir embarks on an international tour every four years so that each member of the choir has the opportunity to tour internationally during their time at the University. The choir toured Poland and the Czech Republic in 2001 and China in 2005.