We started our day by recording the final five songs on our hymns album. The whole recording process went very smoothly, and as always, we are grateful to our expert recording engineer, Brad Zabelski, for his fine work. As soon as the recording was finished, we were eager to get back to our choral repertoire after neglecting it in favor of hymns for the previous one and a half days. We spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon working to solidify our concert repertoire and sorting out standing arrangements and concert flow. We paused for a delicious lunch of tacos, enhanced by a couple lovely folk songs performed by our masterful cooks/local coordinators, Nelson and Hannah Martin. In the evening, First Presbyterian’s sanctuary was filled nearly to the brim with smiling, gracious, and appreciative Hutchinson folks. It was a very enjoyable concert, despite coming at the end of a long and exhausting three day-span of hard work. It felt particularly meaningful for those of us in the choir with Kansas roots and connections, including our director, Wendell. A highlight of the evening was the premiere of a commissioned piece by Douglas Byler, entitled “The Spirit of the Lord.” It was commissioned in honor of Wendell’s sister Jana, and the clinic in El Salvador – La Clinica de las Buenas Nevas – where she has served for much of her adult life as a physician. Jana was in attendance. It was a long and exhausting day, but we enjoyed the reward of finally presenting our music to real live humans.
Jared Shetler
Tenor II