Thiel College celebrating 70th choir reunion with free public performance and reception

Posted June 15, 2023 Print

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Professor of Music Emeritus Michael R. Bray, D.M.A. and alumni choir members from around the country are returning for a reunion and a free public performance at the 70th Choir Reunion on July 8.

The alumni choir performance is free and open to the public. The performance is at 7:30 p.m. July 8 in the David Johnson Memorial Chapel followed by a reception. Alumni from 13 states including New Hampshire, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Florida are among the 100-plus folks who have RSVPed to the event.

Livestream the performance.

The reunion event will begin with a welcome reception at 5 p.m. Friday, July 7 in the Sawhill Georgian Room of the Howard Miller Student Center, followed by a rehearsal later that evening. Saturday will be filled with several activities for the alumni choir which will include a rehearsal, campus tour, dinner banquet, and will culminate in the choir’s free public performance in the Chapel.

Since its founding in 1953 by Marlowe W. Johnson, Ph.D. H’02, the Thiel Choir has enjoyed a long- standing reputation among college choirs in the United States. Bray joined Thiel College in 1996 as the Director of Choral Activities and became the sixth conductor in the history of the choir. During his almost 21 years at Thiel, he oversaw the work of the Thiel Choir, the Thiel College Chamber Singers, and the Thiel College Handbell Ringers, while also providing private instruction in voice and teaching world music and music history. Bray retired in the spring of 2017. Through the years, the Thiel Choir has presented concerts in the midwestern, eastern and southern regions of the United States and Canada and has performed on nine European tours including most recently to Ireland.

For more information, contact Director of Alumni Relations David Hummel ’83 by phone 724-589-2027.