• The BYU-Hawaii Concert Choir, under the direction of Music and Vocal Professor Michael K. Belnap, is the university’s premier SATB ensemble. They perform a cappella and accompanied choral literature ranging from classical oratorio literature to international folk music, American musical theater selections, and art music of Europe, the Americas, and the South Pacific.
• The choir consists of 45 university students hand-picked through a rigorous audition process. Because BYU-Hawaii is the most internationally-diverse campus in the nation per capita (according to U.S. News magazine), choir members often represent more than 15 countries, including South Korea, Mongolia, the United States of America, Japan, the Phillipines, Fiji, Samoa, the People's Republic of China, New Zealand, and others.
• Music Director Michael Belnap frequently integrates traditional Hawaiian and other Polynesian numbers where choir members captivate crowds with customary dances and a variety of accompanying instruments.
• The choir has performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York City, long considered one of the world’s most important stages; the Metropolitan Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo, and the Seoul Arts Center in South Korea.
• The passion of musical performance is an area of emphasis for these students, many of whom are vocal studies majors. Other majors represented in the choir include TESOL, international business management, accounting, intercultural studies, education, and political science.
• In the group’s 2004 tour to Japan and Korea, the Concert Choir became the first Christian group ever invited to perform at the hallowed Meiji Shrine, one of Japan’s most sacred Shinto sites.
• Past tours have taken the choir throughout the Hawaiian Islands; international tours include New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Tonga, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, the PRC, Mongolia, and Singapore.
• Professor Belnap joined the faculty at BYU-Hawaii in 2005. He received a bachelor's and master’s degree in music performance from Brigham Young University. He continued his studies as a doctoral student at Indiana University, one of the top vocal schools in the nation, where he eventually became a full-time associate professor of voice. It was while teaching at Indiana that Professor Belnap studied private voice in Italy with world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti.