The St. Joseph Community Chorus, Dr. David Benz, Artistic Director, was founded in 1980 and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.  The Chorus presents interesting, challenging, and diverse programs of choral music from classical to contemporary throughout the Midwestern United States. This ensemble is the largest all-volunteer performing organization in Northwest Missouri and enjoys a rich history of outstanding choral performances in many beautiful settings.

In addition to its three-concert season, the Chorus collaborates regularly with the St. Joseph Symphony. For the past several years, the chorus has performed fall exchange concerts with another community chorus. Two holiday concerts are presented annually in the St. Joseph Cathedral and feature favorite works of the Christmas season. The chorus is frequently asked to perform for various celebrations and memorable occasions.

In 1996, the chorus toured Great Britain performing several concerts in the cathedrals of England and Wales. This tour included a performance for the Rotary Festival in Colchester, England, our sister city. In the summer of 2001, SJCC was honored to receive two unique invitations. Eighty-eight of the chorus’ 110 voices traveled to the state 2002 MMEA convention to perform as one of eleven choruses on the convention program. Forty-four choristers toured to perform in Budapest, Vienna and Prague and participated in the 2002 International Choral Festival in Innsbruck, Austria.

From within the chorus, a select Chamber Choir was created in 1987. It performs a wide variety of chamber choral music for numerous events besides presenting a spring concert as part of the season series. This past season, the Chamber Choir presented a Victorian Madrigal Feast that benefits the Endowed Scholarship established in 2000. This chamber ensemble is invited frequently to perform at public and private events during the year and will perform on each of the chorus’ three subscription concerts.

The St. Joseph Community Chorus always strives to adhere to its mission statement that is to foster the enjoyment and appreciation of good choral music among its membership and the community at large by providing an organization of the highest musical caliber to present exceptional performances of choral literature. We take pride in the fact that we regularly involve over ninety singers from Northwest Missouri in the creative process of singing together. The chorus is a significant musical ensemble helping to bring the college and community together in an artistically meaningful way.