From Les Misérables to mariachi, six language choirs host a night of linguistic and musical fusion.
“Aamusumussa,” “Daw Hyfrid Fis,” and “Champs Elysées”—these song titles may be hard to say, so imagine what it’s like to sing them! Six language choirs from the College of Humanities joined forces to perform musical numbers in foreign languages at the annual Language Choir Concert, sponsored by the Center for Language Studies, on April 9, 2024. Scandinavian Choir, Welsh Choir, French Choir, German Choir, Slavic Choir, and Mariachi Los Pumas all participated in the celebratory event, where students honored different cultures and showed off hard-earned skills in both language and music.
The event wasn’t always so robust: German Choir Director Curtis Isaak organized the first ever Language Choir Concert in 2017 with only German Choir and Mariachi Los Pumas. It has steadily grown over the years since then. In 2018, they added French Choir and Slavic Choir; in 2019, Welsh Choir joined the mix, and the Center for Language Studies stepped in to help organize the concert and offer resources. After a hiatus due to COVID, the concert returned in 2023, and in 2024, Scandinavian Choir joined for a total of six talented choirs.
During the 2024 concert, performances included entertaining numbers like a French rendition of the finale from Les Misérables, a traditional German craftsman song, the Mexican serenade “Deja Que Salga la Luna” (“Let the Moon Rise”), and more. For the final number of the night, all language choirs performed “I Am a Child of God” together, splitting the verses up between their respective languages, after which audience members joined in to repeat the third verse in their languages of choice.
Isaak says, “The Language Choir Concert shows we have something very unique at BYU. Each year just before the concert, I always do an internet search looking to see if any other universities have language choirs. I have only found a couple over the years that have a Spanish choir, but certainly not six like BYU. BYU is one of the top universities for language learning in the world, and I love how we can learn another language and about other cultures through music.”
Find out how to get involved with the language choirs to hone your skills in a "fun and low-pressure environment.”
