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Check out photos from the trip. Provided by Dr. Tom Hodgman. Updated 5/23/07
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The Jamestown 400th Anniversary Commission has confirmed with Adrian College that President George W. Bush is scheduled to attend a concert by the Adrian College and Lenawee Community Chorus choirs on Sunday, May 13.

"Performing for the President of the United States will be a first for all of the members of the Lenawee Community Chorus and the Adrian College Choirs!" said Dr. Tom Hodgman, chair of the Adrian music department and director of the choirs.

This story in the Daily Telegram provides more information about the trip.

Local Choir Members Headed to Jamestown for Landmark Concert
More than 60 Adrian College Choir/Lenawee Community Chorus members are making the trip to Virginia for the May 13 concert.

Friday, March 30, 2007, Daily Telegram
Used by permission of the Daily Telegram. Copyright 2007, Liberty Group Newspapers.

By Arlene Bachanov
Daily Telegram Special Writer

Choir: Tom Hodgman, chairman of the Adrian College music department and director of both the college choir and the Lenawee Community Chorus, directs the Adrian Choir Thursday at the college. (Telegram photo by Mike Calamungi)

ADRIAN — When Adrian College students Tom Pavlovich and Amanda Born stood onstage at Carnegie Hall last spring during the Adrian College Choir/Lenawee Community Chorus performance there, the experience was more than a little overwhelming.

“I just thought, ‘this is amazing. Not everyone gets to do this,’ ” said Born, a junior philosophy and psychology major from Holland, Ohio. “It gave me goosebumps.”

“I couldn’t believe it, we got a standing ovation,” said Pavlovich, a junior music major from Livonia.
What they couldn’t know at the time was just what other doors that hugely successful concert would open for the choir and community chorus. In May, members of the two groups will travel, by invitation, to Jamestown, Va., to be Michigan’s sole representatives at a massive choral and orchestral concert celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown colony’s founding. More than 60 choir and chorus members, plus a number of family members, are making the trip.

The May 13 concert, which is the concluding event of more than a year of festivities, will feature a 1,607-voice choir (commemorating the colony’s founding year, 1607), made up of choral groups from across the country, and a 400-piece orchestra (reflecting the 400-year anniversary), all under the direction of JoAnn Falletta, conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

“I just don’t know how you have a choir of 1,600 voices!” said Tom Hodgman, chairman of the Adrian College music department and director of both the college choir and the Lenawee Community Chorus, who will sing in the concert along with his groups. “How do you keep the back of the choir (singing) together with the front? And then to put orchestra with it too. I can’t wait to see how this all comes together.”

In all, the giant chorus and orchestra will perform 10 pieces, including “Shenandoah”; “Make Our Garden Grow” from Bernstein’s “Candide”; patriotic music such as “God Bless America,” “America the Beautiful,” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”; and the “1812 Overture,” all culminating in a fireworks display.
The concert is expected to be televised and, according to Hodgman, more than 90,000 people are anticipated at the park over the weekend of the performance. One of the invited guests is U.S. President George W. Bush, which not surprisingly means some stringent security measures. All the choir and community chorus members had to provide their Social Security numbers for background checks and have been told to plan for long lines for screening.

“It’ll be really interesting to see how this all works,“ Born said, “to see the behind the scenes activity.“

As the only ensembles invited from the state, the groups were recognized for their achievement recently with a letter from Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, congratulating them and wishing them well on their trip.

The invitation from the “America’s 400th Anniversary” organizers to participate came when Carnegie Hall officials were asked to suggest groups based on their performances there, and recommended the Adrian ensembles. “The proving ground was Carnegie Hall,” Hodgman said.

“Which is no small place to prove yourself!” Born added.

A member of her high school choir, Born got interested in the Adrian College Choir thanks to Pavlovich. Being able to sing in ensembles like those at Adrian — she also sings in the college’s Chamber Choir — is a unique opportunity for her.

“Coming to a small school, I never expected to have this opportunity” to tour to places like Carnegie Hall and Jamestown, she said.

Pavlovich, who was involved in music in high school, actually first visited Adrian College to check out the school‘s soccer team. Then he met Hodgman. “I auditioned and got a scholarship,” he said. “It’s turned out to be an amazing thing. There are so many opportunities that no one would ever expect, being a small school.”

In fact, Adrian’s smaller size opens the door for non-music majors like Born to make a touring choir part of her college experience. “When you go to a larger institution and look to get involved with the choirs, especially the choirs that tour, they tend to be made up of music majors,” Hodgman said. “We take great pride in the fact that the (Adrian College) choir is not made up of just music majors.”

Both students say they’re really looking forward to the Jamestown trip. Born has visited there before, but for Pavlovich, this will be a first-ever trip to the historic site, making the experience doubly interesting. “It’s going to be amazing,” he said. “I’m excited to be going.”

And it will be just as exciting for their conductor. “The biggest choir I’ve ever sung with is 150 people,” Hodgman said. “With as much noise as we make now (with the college choir and community chorus), I can’t imagine what 1,600 people will sound like.”