Celebrate cooler weather with OC’s free Fall Choral Concert Nov. 14 

Oklahoma Christian University’s choirs will perform a variety of musical pieces

November 13, 2019 - Just a few weeks after performing with instrumental groups at the Grand Concert, the Oklahoma Christian University choirs are preparing for their own time on the stage. OC’s Fall Choral Concert will be Nov. 14 in the Adams Recital Hall of the Garvey Center. The free concert will begin at 7 p.m. and will feature the Chamber Singers, the Chorale and the Women’s Choir. 

Dr. Kyle Pullen, OC’s choir director and professor of music, leads the university’s vocal groups. He chooses the music for each of the choirs based on difficulty, the particular group dynamics and what the groups are working toward each year. The OC choirs are audition-based groups, available to both music and nonmusic majors, scholarship recipients and nonscholarship recipients. The students meet multiple times per week in preparation for concerts throughout the year. 

“The students are always working hard to not only learn the music, but they also strive to connect to the music, allowing their audience to do the same,” Pullen said. “They have made considerable progress since the Grand Concert, and they are ready to show their audience that as well.”

Senior Elizabeth Killough is the choir president this year, and she is looking forward to the performance.

“The fall concert is a great opportunity to get a glimpse into what the choirs have been working on all year,” Killough said. “OC’s choirs are a special group of people who grow together in good times and bad, through music. It is cool getting to portray that to our audiences when the concerts come around.”

Senior biology and vocational ministry major Keenan McCoy has been in OC choirs since his freshman year. He reflected on the comradery of the choir and how much he enjoys being a part of a group like OC’s, through the friendships and the leadership.

“I love Dr. Pullen's insight into the words we sing, why we sing them and how they should encourage us to sing our very best,” McCoy said. “Being a senior in choir makes me want to make this year the best year in choir and go out with a bang. I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to be in something like this again after I graduate, so we [need to] make it awesome.”

The choral groups are also preparing holiday music for Cocoa and Carols during the first week of December as a part of OC’s Winter Wonderland. In addition, renowned composer Z. Randall Stroope will visit the Chamber Singers to help work with the students toward their performance at the Oklahoma Music Educators Association Jan. 17. The group was selected from among others around the country to be an honor choir during the Oklahoma All-State weekend.