Two newly reinstated musical groups invite the Mount Marty community and the Yankton community to make beautiful music together. Choral Union and Lancer Jamz are both starting up again this fall, Dr. Tyler Thress, MMU assistant professor of Music and director of Choral Activities, told the Press & Dakotan.
Monday marked the group’s first meeting since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Rehearsals are slated Mondays from 7:30-9 p.m.
in Gregory Hall on the MMU Yankton campus. “Choral Union is a ‘Comuniversity Choir,’ Thress said. “Ideally, it’s a mix of Mount Marty students, faculty and staff, and anyone in the area who wants to come and sing with us.
” Thress, who will be leading the choir, said he has planned an exciting first season. “They’re going to sing in the Fall Choral Showcase in October and they’re going to sing in Vespers,” he said. “Once we get to the holidays — and this is maybe the most exciting thing — they’re going to sing a large work on their own as an ensemble in the Bishop Marty Chapel.
” Thress, who completed his first year on the faculty at MMU in May, said one of the very first questions he was asked while introducing himself to people was, “When are you going to bring back the Choral Union?” “I think it’s time and I think it addresses a real need that I’ve heard as someone who now lives in this community,” he said. “If people want to come up here and sing, who am I to say no? We throw the doors open and say, ‘Yea.