
The Wartburg Choir
Founded in 1937, the internationally acclaimed Wartburg Choir performs sacred music from all historical periods and styles and often collaborates with contemporary composers, including Elaine Hagenberg, Stacey V. Gibbs, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Abbie Betinis, Jake Runestad, Ola Gjeilo, and Kyle Pederson. Choir members are chosen by audition and represent various academic disciplines on campus.
The Wartburg Choir performs concert tours throughout the United States annually and travels abroad every three years during the college’s one-month May Term. The choir has appeared in many prestigious concert halls throughout the United States. The choir performed with opera star Simon Estes at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis; Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; and Lincoln Center, New York. and Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago. Estes and the choir also performed two concerts with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague. The Wartburg Choir has performed solo concerts at Carnegie Hall on two different occasions.
The choir most recently was selected to perform at the 2022 Midwestern American Choral Directors Association conference. The Wartburg Choir was named winner of The American Prize in Choral Performance (college/university division) in 2017. The choir has received several invitations to perform at the National ACDA conference, most recently in 2017, and the regional ACDA conferences. In January 2014, the Wartburg Choir worked with composer Morten Lauridsen, who lauded their performance of his O Magnum Mysterium as being “in the top echelon of any performance of that piece by any choir that I have ever heard.” In 2011, the choir was invited to perform at the White House for the “Holiday Concert Series” and at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Sample Videos
The Wartburg Choir worked with composer Morten Lauridsen who lauded their performance of his O Magnum Mysterium as being “in the top echelon of any performance of that piece by any choir that I have ever heard.” In this video the Wartburg Choir performs Morten Lauridsen’s “Prayer” with him at the piano.