A choir from Goshen College traveled to Spain and Portugal for a tour this summer. From June 9-18, the group of 33 singers toured throughout the Iberian Peninsula, performing in Madrid, Spain; Seville, Spain and Batalha, Portugal.
The choir consisted of current students, faculty and alumni who performed a program entitled “Joy, Peace and Love.”The tour was organized by Marcia Yost, former director of the arts. The choir was led by H. Roz Woll, associate professor of music and Scott Hochstetler ’97, professor of music.
Because the group was open to any students or alumni, it required a mixed-voice choral repertoire. Hochstetler explained that he drew from the variety of songs — especially those related to joy, peace and love — performed previously that year by Chamber Choir, the college’s mixed-voice ensemble.
He sent recordings and sheet music for the singers not already in Chamber Choir, and the students present during May term were also able to rehearse together. However, the entire group did not rehearse together until the day before their first concert, which Hochstetler said was challenging.
“The alumni of GC are terrific singers and musicians, and our students are strong, and so everybody rose to the occasion,” Hochstetler said.
For Natalie Neufeld, a sophomore nursing major, the performances were a cross-cultural experience. The doors to the churches serving as performance venues remained open and the lighting never changed, allowing passersby to step in and out throughout the performance. “It felt more interactive,” Neufeld said.
In addition to the planned programming, the group also enjoyed many spontaneous and memorable moments, such as meeting new friends, self-touring the cities and even picking up and moving a car.
According to Gustavo Gonzalez ’26, a first-year graduate student studying education, the tour bus got stuck on a narrow street in Seville due to a poorly parked car. They could not back up due to cars behind them, and the police were also unable to help.
Gonzalez said he was part of the team that eventually lifted the car out of the way. “It was so funny to hear the cheers,” Gonzalez said while recalling the moments after the car was moved. “What an experience. You never get to lift a car up!”
Both Hochstetler and the students highlighted their appreciation of the various historical tours that were included in the trip, especially the various churches and cathedrals. Gonzalez said, “I was left breathless — it was gorgeous.”
Neufeld said, “We’d be walking around and the tour guide would say, ‘This building’s pretty recent. It was only built in 1750!’”
Hochstetler said, “I found myself taking pictures on every street corner.”
They also commented on the depth of history present in the locations they visited.
Hochstetler said he was struck by the differences in buildings as they traveled south from Madrid towards the formerly Moorish cities of Cordoba and Seville.
“The architecture was Islamic, but then mixed in with Spanish colonial architecture, so that juxtaposition was really special,” he said.
