Oh, the Places You’ll Sing!
Zetty Endowed Choral Touring Fund supports travel, performance invitations

From Texas to Austria to Zooming around the world, the Trinity University choirs have covered all of their “basses.”

Long recognized as a leading university choral program, Trinity choirs have decades of experience traveling to deliver stellar performances, accepting national and international festival invitations. And when world travel halted amid a global pandemic, the Trinity choirs didn’t let that stop them: The ensembles developed and performed a melodiously thought-provoking concert with their November 2020 release of “My Hair is a Garden.”

When Tigers can again share their songs in-person around the world, the newly established Claude E. Zetty Endowed Choral Touring Fund will help them get there. The fund, named after the late music professor and choral activities director Claude Zetty, will support travel to national and international music festivals, competitions, conferences, and special performance invitations, as well as equipment maintenance and repair. 

Zetty taught at Trinity for 18 years, and his legacy is marked by unwavering musical standards, passionate teaching, and a robust advocacy for touring. Under his leadership, the choir received invitations to perform at major conferences and traveled extensively around the country and abroad. Zetty’s daughter, Erika H. Zetty ’77, created the fund to continue supporting the life-changing experiences that touring provides Trinity students. Now, generations of the best and brightest choral students—music majors and non-majors alike—will benefit from the Zetty family's generosity.

“This endowment, along with the Butler Choral Excellence Fund and regular support by the Dickson-Allen Foundation, are integral to providing continued world-class opportunities for our singers,” says Gary Seighman, director for choral activities. “We are extremely grateful to Erika that Professor Zetty’s memory will continue to impact our students in perpetuity.”

Take a look at some of the places where Trinity choirs have shared their voices—and now, be on the lookout for more to come!

Jeanna Goodrich Balreira '08 is the assistant vice president for Strategic Communications and Marketing at Trinity University.

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