2019 Canadian Tour Announcement

Dear friends and Ricks/BYU-Idaho alumni:

I am pleased to announce that the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers will tour Canada and the Pacific Northwest (Alberta/British Columbia/Oregon/idaho) July 24-August 7! It’s our first summer tour (we finish school July 24 here) and so new territory for us, but I am hopeful that many of you will be in one of these areas and able to cross paths with us along the way in between your many summer activities! I’d also like to solicit your assistance in passing the word along to any you may know who might be along our path. 

Here is a website with information about our stops and concerts (updated as information becomes more specific).

http://www.byui.edu/performance-tours/collegiate-singers

If you have friends/family/alumni near these areas (including stops in Oregon, Salt Lake City (July 13), Sun Valley, and Rexburg, July 16) 

Would you share this website and announcement with them?

Or better yet, invite them personally to come with you! The show is family-friendly, uplifting, and addresses contemporary issues facing youth and parents through song and story. It’s also designed to be accessible to friends of all faiths, so consider who you might invite to come who might respond to an invitation to attend a concert. 

I’m so pleased with the hard work the students have put in to make the show worth an hour and a half of your time. They are just full of love, beauty, and spiritual goodness and uplift me every day. We have had great experiences connecting with audiences on every tour; one of the most frequent comments I hear, though, is “If I had only known what this would be like, I would have invited everyone I know to come! Can you come back next week?” How I wish we could!

Thanks for your support and love over the years. I hope to see you on one of our concert stops!

Fondly, BroK

Final Reflections from the Director

Now that we are all home safe and sound, I thought I would add a few words of reflection on our visit (even if nobody is listening anymore).

First and foremost, a HUGE thanks to the army of people who worked so hard for so many months to make this all possible.  Dale Hillier and Benoni Sowah in University Relations; Elder and Sister Warner and their cohorts in the Africa West Area Public Affairs; BYU-Idaho administration, the Department of Music, the Eliza R. Snow Society and others too numerous to mention.  Finally, our families, who had to make sacrifices to send us and hold down the fort (and the children) in our absences.  We love and thank ALL of you for letting us have this experience!

I lie awake wondering sometimes if we accomplished all that we were sent to do.  I ask almost everyone involved, and most speak encouragingly of the positive feelings they believe we created for the Church among the Ghanaian public and for the University among the members of the Church.  I pray that it's true.  I believe it is.  I hope that our visit will have long-lasting effects that help to move the Kingdom forward in Ghana and, perhaps, prepare the way for a future visit by another BYU group.  We certainly benefited greatly from the visit of BYU Singers more than a decade ago; maybe another group will benefit equally from  the legacy of our visit this time.

Ghana was a challenging trip.  Some days were just hard.  We had illness, challenging communications, long travel.  Concert halls were different from what we are accustomed to.  Our audiences were almost uniformly large and appreciative, though they showed their appreciation differently than we expected.  I think we were not really ready to come home after only two weeks.  Another week would have been OK.  

I feel we have unfinished business in Ghana.  One of the most important things we may have done was to build a bridge with the BYU-Idaho Pathway program in Accra.  The choir we auditioned and sang with wants to continue their work, with our help.  They will benefit from our mentoring, from repertoire we might send them, and from our continued support and encouragement.  We are hatching plans to help them, and perhaps, other Pathway sites to have a choral experience with us.  Stay tuned for further developments!

Finally, a few pictures that weren't on the students' cameras but deserve a look.  

Accra Temple

Fondly, BroK

National Theater performance



With BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers-Ghana cohort

At Cape Coast University.  Audiences come late to shows in Ghana!

African Sunrise, Elmina Beach

Performance with Winneba Youth Choir

At Osu Children's Home

I love to see the Temple

Today was a ying/yang sort of day. It started with us going to the Accra Market where we all seemed to barter our lives away!

Best Concert Ever

Today was another amazing day. Just when we think we can't top the adventures we are having, we get another day to prove us wrong!

Our Day of Rest

Today was a fun filled, and yet sobering day. Our morning was spent putting together a music video of one of our songs. It involved dancing and singing on the beach, and full Ghanaian dress.

Walking on Air

Today, we went to church here in Cape Coast. It was wonderful to be around such faithful members of the church, and so comforting to have the same lesson we would be having back in the states!

Still strong!

We are surviving! We feel your prayers and are grateful. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.