By Victoria Jimenez
Assistant Editor in Chief
Colorado State University-Pueblo’s own Chamber Choir has been invited to be one of five featured international choirs to the XVIII Festival Coral Internacional de Medellín “José María Bravo Márquez” which will be held July 3-7, 2019, in Medellín, Colombia.
The festival, held annually in the 1,788-seat Teatro Metropolitano, involves 30 to 40 choirs, and the five invited featured choirs will perform in a final concert to be broadcast on Colombian national television.
CSU-Pueblo’s Chamber Choir will perform each night in a different venue sharing the concert with one of the other choirs participating in the festival. The festival will conclude Sunday, July 7, with a final joint concert.
Dana Ihm, director of choral activities said, “it is a great honor for the Chamber Choir to be one of the five invited, featured ensemble at an international festival.” This is a first for an ensemble from the CSU-Pueblo department of music, according to Ihm.
The 35-member chorus has hosted numerous fundraisers in effort to raise money to defray the cost of airfare, one of which being a crowd-funding event hosted by the CSU-Pueblo Foundation.
Student CJ Richards said although he has traveled internationally before, this would be a new experience for him. “I feel this is a good opportunity to show that we want to give them something beautiful in return for showing us and bringing us to their country.”
“By performing at this national level on television and being able to show other people who aren’t able to come to America or don’t know many Americans, they can see that we want to perform and create this beautiful artwork and show that there is beauty everywhere,” Richards said.
Choir member Rachel Pope said this trip is an incredible opportunity for the university and for her peers to travel internationally and experience a new culture. “We’re getting ourselves out there and not just into the rest of the country but the rest of the world,” Pope said. “We’re advocating for America along with Pueblo, Colorado, and it’s super cool.”
The link to their crowdfunding page can be found by clicking here.
