Women’s Glee and University Choir perform

BYU-Idaho’s Women’s Glee choir and University Choir performed in a joint concert Nov. 3 in the Ruth H. Barrus Concert Hall.
Women’s Glee perfomed first followed by University Choir.
“The University Choir is a collegiate choir, so there’s a bunch of people from all over with different majors, and so we’re all different people coming together for something we love,” said Adam Keller, a sophomore studying mechanical engineering. “If  [the audience] could have gotten that feeling that the gospel’s for everyone, and the music that we sing is really for everybody, and to really feel encompassed in that love, that would be the best thing.”
Anyone who is interested is welcome to join the choir.
“The University Choir is an open-enrollment choir designed for all students interested in making friends, improving their talents and serving the Lord through music,” according to the Department of Music’s website.
The choirs sang spiritual selections.
Atina Coates, the Women’s Glee choir conductor and an adjunct faculty member, said she picked music that would inspire the girls in the Glee Choir.
“I’ve conducted Glee before, but it’s been a few semesters in between, so I picked a few [songs] that I really loved and that I knew that the girls would be able to connect to and feel the spirit through,” Coates said. “Always a goal, when I’m choosing music, is what will help inspire them to have stronger testimonies and for that gratitude and joy and praise.”
The choir members said they were excited to see the audience’s response to their performance. The members and directors of the choirs were glad to have a large audience.
“I loved that it was such a big crowd. They were backstage saying, ‘It’s going to be packed; everybody won’t make it in,’ but everybody made it in,” Coates said.
Katie Wheeler, a freshman studying elementary education, was surprised by the University Choir’s last song.
“My favorite part was the end song, ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain,’” Wheeler said. “I expected a lot of spiritual songs, which there was, and then I wasn’t expecting the last song.”
The choir and audience members said they enjoyed the overall success of the performances.
“At first it we were all getting together, but then at the end we all came together and just nailed it,” Keller said.