For high school and college singers, Spring break often means going on a choir tour. I remember many years in my youth being jealous of my friends at the beach while I endured endless hours in a smelly bus, multitudes of meals of frozen lasagna in often smelly church basements, and restless nights on host family fold out sofas with, you guessed it, a smelly roommate. Mixed in there somewhere however, were many wonderful experiences. For a budding church musician, visiting a different church every evening for weeks on end was incredibly valuable, and getting to know host families was often extremely rewarding. Being on the other end of the choir tour spectrum gives me the privilege of providing this same opportunity for today’s students and hopefully making it smell a little better for them.
On Monday, March 12 at 7:00 pm, the Schola Cantorum from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ will give a concert here as part of their Spring tour. In addition to being my alma mater, Westminster is home to some of the finest choirs in the country so this should be a superb program.
Hosting these student choirs is a wonderfully collaborative ministry for us to be involved in. We help provide an invaluable experience for the students and support them in their studies and in return they give us a beautiful musical experience which I hope you will all plan to attend. By getting further involved, we have the chance to get to know these students and share in their stories and they in ours. We are responsible for keeping the 70 Westminster students over Monday night so I hope many of you will consider signing up to give a group of students a comfortable bed for the night in your sweet smelling homes. I will be airing out the church basement and hope to provide this wonderful choir with a truly fragrant experience at Trinity Church. Sorry, I can’t do anything about the buses or roommates.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels, unaware.”
Yes! I want to help host students from Westminster Choir College!
How can I help? What are my next steps? We are so glad you asked those questions!
Please contact Marguerite Sweeny 703-431-9962 / margueritesw@gmail.com, or Betsy Crenshaw 592-3343 / Betsy@TrinityUpperville.org
Let us know a few things:
- How many students would you be willing to host?
- Would you prefer to house men or women? (Students are college sophomores).
- Do you have dogs or cats? (A few students have allergies).
The date: Monday, March 12, pick up after concert and return to church the next morning having been fed breakfast.
Details will be provided closer to concert time. Thank you in advance!