{"id":14863,"date":"2026-10-28T14:33:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T19:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=14863"},"modified":"2026-10-28T14:33:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T19:33:02","slug":"expanding-our-repertoire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2026\/10\/28\/expanding-our-repertoire\/","title":{"rendered":"Expanding our repertoire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Jennaya Robison<\/b> is just a few months into leading Augsburg University\u2019s storied choral program, and exciting things are already happening.<\/span><\/p>\n

An unscheduled opportunity arose for the choir to perform \u201cGimikwenden Ina (Do You Remember?),\u201d a piece from Canadian Indigenous composer Corey Payette\u2019s musical, \u201cChildren of God.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe musical is a story about two native children forced to go to a residential boarding school,\u201d Robison shared. \u201cThe piece is in Ojibwe, and a student in our choir who is Ojibwe helped us with the language and shared with us that in the text of this piece are some of the first words Ojibwe children learn: \u2018Do you remember, your mothers and fathers?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even with little advance notice, not a single member of the choir missed the performance. \u201cThey wanted to do it,\u201d Robison said. \u201cIt was a transformational experience for all of us. Singing in worship adds additional purpose to our work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Robison points to that experience and to many others where the connection with one another, the music, and the community are full of meaning as \u201cwhy you come to college to study the arts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Robison\u2019s philosophy in programming great choral music is to stay close to the choir and its context. \u201cThe best way to create a culture of belonging is to see yourself reflected in the repertoire you\u2019re singing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe perform diverse repertoire because we need to know about humanity generally and because at Augsburg, if we\u2019re going to see ourselves in the repertoire, we have to program well outside the usual canon for Lutheran collegiate choirs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparing Augsburg students for a career in professional choral music means ensuring they are familiar with various \u201cchoral traditions.\u201d But Robison notes we are also in the middle of significant shifts in what professional expectations are and how we define those traditions. \u201cBecause of the many ways Augsburg University embraces and supports difference and change in its curriculum and student body, it is a wonderful place to be teaching choral music as our repertoire and the tradition itself shifts and evolves. For anyone who wants to work in choral music, Augsburg is an exciting place to study\u2014at the front edge of this new wave of higher education that is multicultural, open, compassionate, and flexible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Robison came to the Twin Cities three years ago to become artistic director of the National Lutheran Choir, a Minneapolis-based choir founded in 1986 by Larry Fleming, who also taught and led choirs at Augsburg. This summer, Augsburg University <\/span>announced a collaboration with the National Lutheran Choir<\/span><\/a> (NLC) to have the 70-voice NLC in residence at Augsburg for rehearsals and educational programming, including a conducting institute for high-school and undergraduate students and student internships related to choral music and Augsburg\u2019s highly-touted music business program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAugsburg was very supportive from the beginning. Part of NLC\u2019s mission is to expand sacred choral music, and Augsburg is clearly committed to expansive, pluralistic approaches to higher education,\u201d Robison said. \u201cWith that much alignment of mission between the two organizations, I am confident that we can continue increasing access to choral music\u2014for audiences as well as for those in the choir and those who would like to join the choir.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Robison\u2019s view, higher education, church music, and performing arts are at a crossroads. \u201cWe need each other. And if we can share resources wisely and with a clear shared purpose, we will not only survive these challenging times but will succeed in making our communities stronger and more vibrant. When singers from NLC and Augsburg are standing side-by-side, we\u2019ll be not only creating great music together but will be forming a community in which everyone is learning and expanding their view of what choral music is and can be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennaya Robison is just a few months into leading Augsburg University\u2019s storied choral program, and exciting things are already happening. An unscheduled opportunity arose for the choir to perform \u201cGimikwenden Ina (Do You Remember?),\u201d a piece from Canadian Indigenous composer Corey Payette\u2019s musical, \u201cChildren of God.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe musical is a story about two native children <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":14865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-the-quad"],"wps_subtitle":"Choral music and community at Augsburg University","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/694"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14863"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14874,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14863\/revisions\/14874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}