During three weeks in May 2007 the 64-voice Brigham Young University Hawaii Concert Choir will perform in Urumqi, Xian, Tianjin and Beijing, People’s Republic of China. (choir performance schedule )
In Beijing, under the direction of BYU-Hawaii music director Professor Michael Belnap — who has studied in Italy with world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti, the choir will appear in the Forbidden City Concert Hall, participate in the “Meet in Beijing” Music Festival, and sing at the Great Wall of China.
The BYU-Hawaii Concert Choir has previously performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Metropolitan Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo, and the Seoul Arts Center in South Korea.
Past international tours have taken the choir to New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Taiwan and Singapore. BYU-Hawaii students in other performing groups — including Polynesian Cultural Center entertainers — have also previously appeared in Beijing, Wuhan, Shenzhen and Hong Kong over the years.
The BYU-Hawaii Concert Choir performs a cappella and accompanied choral literature ranging from classical oratorio as well as international folk music, American musical theater selections, and art music of Europe, the Americas and the South Pacific.
Members of the choir come from 13 different countries, including China, Mongolia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Tonga, Samoa and others. Over half of the students in the choir are bilingual.
Of the 2007 tour, BYU-Hawaii President Dr. Eric B. Shumway said, “We are celebrating 25 years of close friendship with the Chinese people. A little more than 25 years ago we established the Asian Executive Management internship program. Since then, hundreds of Chinese have been educated at BYU-Hawaii, and returned to China. We would now like to greet our alumni, meet people in the government, education and business, and reaffirm our commitment to our friendship in the future.”
President Shumway explained BYU-Hawaii has also sent its men’s basketball team and tennis coach, Dr. David T. Porter — a consultant for the China Tennis Association and immediate past president of the U.S. Professional Tennis Association, to China.
“This tour celebrates all of those connections and reaffirms our friendship,” President Shumway said. “We’re very grateful for those connections and friendships over the years, which have been mutually beneficial. The mission of BYU-Hawaii is to create a context for peace, and we believe our association with China is also central to the mission.”
“We extend our deepest aloha [Hawaiian for ‘love’] to our friends and alumni in China. We understand many of them are spread throughout China and may not be able to attend our concerts, but please know that we love and appreciate you, and wish you the very best.”
For further information on the BYUH Concert Choir, please go to: http://w2.byuh.edu/perform. For more information on BYU-Hawaii, please go to: http://www.byuh.edu