Every Tuesday evening from 7 to 9:30 p.m., the Lewis & Clark students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends gather in Evans Auditorium for the weekly rehearsal of the Community Chorale Choir. The Community Chorale is a symphonic choir open to all community members within and outside of LC and performs two on-campus concerts each semester.
Kathy FitzGibbon, Professor of Music and the Director of Choral Activities, has directed the Chorale Choir for 15 years.
“There was a real need and excitement among community members to have a place to sing, and I love the way that it gives us a chance to connect across all three campuses and with and across generations,” FitzGibbon said. “I think when you’re a college student, you’re often hanging out with other students, your professors and everything, but the idea that you could actually be in a choir where you’re singing next to your Spanish professor, there’s a way that it evens the playing field and allows us all to connect as peers in a way that I think is super cool.”
FitzGibbon herself has been a motivation for some members as they have joined and continued to return to the Chorale Choir, including Frankie Spurbeck ’23, an LC alum and current research assistant at Portland State University in the Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative, who decided to return to the Chorale Choir following their graduation due to FitzGibbon’s leadership.
“Kathy is fantastic. I probably would not have come back if Kathy wasn’t such a kind person and a good conductor. So I cannot speak too highly of Kathy,” Spurbeck said.
Paulette Bierzychudek, former LC Professor of Biology, also found inspiration in FitzGibbon’s leadership when making the decision to join the Chorale Choir.
“I had heard really great reports of what a terrific conductor Kathy was. I had never sung in a choir before in my life. I had no musical background whatsoever. I couldn’t read a note, but I had always enjoyed singing in the shower, around a campfire, and I decided to be brave and step forward and ask to join,” Bierzychudek said.
FitzGibbon has also inspired former LC students who are now also educators, including alum and current high school music teacher, Emily Stormer ’23.
“Kathy is a really great conductor. She’s really great at leading people in warm-ups, specifically. I’ve taken some of the warm-ups from her. I’ve asked her directly, also for advice on teaching. And I think especially as a young teacher, you really rely a lot upon what your teachers in the past have done,” Stormer said.
The positive and uplifting diverse community that FitzGibbon has built within the Chorale Choir is evident. Audrey Martin ’18 also went on to become a music educator following her graduation and appreciated the hospitality she found in the community ensemble.
“I just think it’s a really great community of people. It’s really fun to sing with such a big group, such a wide range of people also. Everyone’s so positive and inviting and welcoming. I just never had a negative experience working with anybody at Community Chorale,” said Martin.
Caitlin Hansen, a registrar specialist at the graduate school, highlighted the positive learning environment found within the Chorale Choir.
“I’ve been in a lot of choirs throughout my life, but this one in particular is really special,” said Hansen. “Kathy is such an amazing director and she makes it such a joyful experience. Her enthusiasm is infectious. She makes learning really complex music seem easy and manageable.”
Fitzgibbon emphasized the significance of this LC community in finding one’s voice to foster both personal and collective growth.
“There’s something about valuing what you can contribute to a choir that is really powerful and can feel a little vulnerable. By allowing yourself to be vulnerable and to work on yourself as an individual in order to contribute to this larger ensemble, it builds feelings of trust and community, of course, and lets people feel that they really have something that they bring to the table,” FizGibbon said.
Leave a Reply