Montana State music students perform with regional honors choir

BOZEMAN — Four Montana State University students performed with the Collegiate Honor Choir at the American Choral Directors Northwest Division Conference in Spokane, Washington, earlier this semester. 

Joseph Barrett, Rosalyn Black, Piper Butler and Jared Rosgaard were selected to perform with students from six other universities at the conference for choral music professionals, which ran Jan. 24–27. They applied for the choir last fall and were accepted as a quartet. 

The four MSU students joined about 200 other college students at the conference to perform “Chichester Psalms” by Leonard Bernstein, who was portrayed by Bradley Cooper in the 2023 film “Maestro.” 

Butler, a junior in the School of Music’s music education program, said the piece is about 20-minutes long, includes three movements and is rather difficult to sing. 

“Being a smaller group and a smaller college than the rest ... we knew we had to show up and perform really well,” Butler said. 

She said the four MSU students met to practice for about 90 minutes each week after their rehearsals with MSU’s Montanans choir, in which they serve in leadership roles. Kirk Aamot, Director of Choral Activities at MSU, helped the students prepare the music and accompanied them to the conference.  

"It's a great opportunity for these students to learn this important work and sing with university students from around the Northwest Region," Aamot said. 

However, getting to the conference proved difficult. Due to a flight delay, the MSU group missed the conference’s first day of rehearsals — a five-hour session. 

“The next day there was another rehearsal,” Butler said. “Since we put all that practice time in beforehand, we were still caught up.” 

A highlight for Butler and the other MSU participants was working under the direction of André Thomas, a world-renowned conductor and composer. Butler also attended Thomas’s master class on conducting. 

“I’m in the middle of all my conducting learning, so getting to add that on to what I am already learning was really beneficial,” said Butler, who plans to go into teaching after graduation. 

While in Spokane, the MSU students were able to walk around the city in their free time, explore the University of Gonzaga and meet with other students and industry professionals. 

Rosgaard, a sophomore majoring in music education, hopes to pursue a performance-based graduate degree and perform with an opera after graduating from MSU. He said he enjoyed talking with students from all over the region about different programs. 

“Being able to work with students all across the Northwest was a great experience — to see how they work and how their directors work,” he said. “It was a really good experience to be around talented singers and make connections.”