As their first Fall Concert of the year approaches, members of Notre Dame's Glee Club stay calm, cool and collected, as usual. Through all their intense rehearsals and spontaneous performances around campus, these guys never lose their smiles and excitement.
Brian Scully, this year's Glee Club treasurer, described the club's hectic schedule.
"Glee Club is entering one of its busiest seasons right now," Scully said. "Our fall concert this Friday is only one in a long list of events for us. In the last week alone we've also sung for the residents of Holy Cross Village, at a wedding in the Basilica, at Baraka Bouts, and had a master class with the King's Singers, a world-renowned men's chorus."
In addition, Christmas is right around the corner, meaning nonstop Christmas caroling around campus for the Glee Club.
Although this sounds like a strenuous schedule, club president John Kemnetz stressed the positivity of the club.
"Usually the intensity level goes way up in our rehearsals leading up to a concert," Kemnetz said. "Focus is important and oftentimes our rehearsals will run longer, but we don't mind. We love to sing for crowds at Notre Dame and have fun doing so - we're less about stress and anxiety and more about having a good time and making sure our audience does the same."
Even when not preparing for a specific concert, the Glee Club has a demanding rehearsal schedule, but according to Scully they love this time spent together.
"Glee Club has rehearsal Monday through Thursday for about an hour and 15 minutes," Scully said. "We also have some added open rehearsals on the Fridays of game weekends. Glee club definitely keeps you busy, but it's time spent doing something you love with one of the tightest and most caring social groups on campus. It's hard to beat that."
This Friday's fall concert is structured around various genres of music and features songs from the club's new album.
"Our concerts are usually separated into two halves -- what we like to call the 'serious half', during which we perform more classical, liturgical, and modern choral music, and the 'fun half', during which we get to sing some more light stuff including African American spirituals, folk songs, and barbershop numbers," Kemnetz said. "One unique feature of this concert is that many of the pieces we will perform are a part of our newest album, Rocky Road to Dublin, released in August. Music themes range from the horrors of war to Marian devotion to drunken revelry, so there's really something for all of us to relate to."
As Friday draws closer and closer, Glee Club sophomore Joey Copp expresses nothing but positivity and excitement.
"I expect a really good show, we've all put in a lot of hard work, especially [our director] Dan [Stowe], and I expect a great audience," Copp said. "We've sold out the main house and we think it'll be a real treat for everyone who can make it."
Kemnetz keeps up the same enthusiasm, urging students to come even if just to see what the hype is all about.
"We're Notre Dame's oldest and most well known choir, but more than that we present music that is accessible and fun to listen to," Kemnetz said. "If you're a Notre Dame student who has never been to a choral concert at Notre Dame, then this is the concert you won't want to miss."
Contact Maddie Daly at
mdaly6@nd.edu
