Choir Tours

Since the 1930s, Trinity’s choirs have taken an annual spring tour to perform across the country and around the world.

The original aim of the choir tour was to generate favorable publicity for the University, as well as give students an opportunity to perform in locations outside San Antonio. Through much of Trinity’s past, these tours have been regional and largely hosted by Presbyterian churches. 

But the choir has often branched outside this comfort zone.

In 1963, the choir (pictured above) flew to Yugoslavia under the sponsorship of the Ambassadors for Friendship Agency in New York. There, the forty-member choir presented concerts in factories, youth clubs, hotels, restaurants, and city parks and on street corners throughout the country.

The trip was not without its dangers: During one outdoor performance in Sarajevo, several journalists interpreted Latin words in a song to be of a religious character. They summoned local police, who arrested choir director Claude Zetty for illegally attracting crowds and singing church music in a public venue. After intensive questioning, authorities released Zetty but advised him to monitor future selections more carefully.

During the nation's bicentennial year in 1976, the choir toured southern and eastern seaboard states and visited the nation's capital. At the invitation of then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, a relative of Trinity choir member Jim Rumsfeld, the choir presented a concert in the Pentagon.

“Sitting at the harpsichord during rehearsal, hearing everything going on around me—all of these musicians from 26 countries—for our students to be part of that musical expression, creating a choral work, it made my heart swell.” - David Heller, Chair, Department of Music

More than 40 years later, Trinity choirs have performed on five continents and in almost all 50 states. In 2018, Trinity was invited as the host choral ensemble to the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. Led by choral director Gary Seighman, they performed Joseph Haydn’s “The Creation” in the same venue the piece debuted centuries ago.