The Concordia Chapel Choir will end its thought-provoking "Incarcerated Voices" tour with a free, public concert on campus at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 23. It will be held at the Centrum, Knutson Campus Center.
“Incarcerated Voices” sheds light on the experiences of individuals behind bars in America, exploring their stories through poetry and music.
The choir will present original works created in collaboration with incarcerated individuals at the Clay County Jail in Moorhead.
One featured piece, "Hope Survives," was written by Concordia student Elena Pluim ’25 in collaboration with an incarcerated resident as part of Concordia’s MUS 380 “Singing, Incarceration, and Restorative Justice” course.
The song’s chorus, performed in this concert, acknowledges the pain of incarceration while expressing the hope for a better future:
Hope survives the darkest nights
Guiding us to endless heights
We carry the weight of those goodbyes
Concrete dreams, empty lullabies.
Another powerful selection, "Known by a Number," is a rap written by a Clay County Jail resident that reflects on the dehumanizing aspects of incarceration:
Known by a number, just another statistic
Actin’ like I’m mad at God, when really I did this
Cell door slammed, locked in my kennel again
Feelin’ like I must’ve fallen upon the floor again
I've got a sheet full of numbers, runnin' low on the funds
And not to mention eight points so I could be done.
As a champion of new and diverse music, chapel choir conductor Dr. Joseph Kemper is passionate about programming that cultivates understanding, learning, and seeking common ground across time, belief, and culture.
“The concert seeks to humanize those shut away from society and illuminate the complexities and injustices of incarceration,” Kemper said. “The program invites us to listen, reflect, and recognize the shared humanity in all of us.”
Under Kemper's direction, the program includes a diverse repertoire, ranging from Renaissance madrigals to contemporary choral works by composers such as Benjamin Britten, Moses Hogan, Carol Barnett, Johannes Brahms, and Andrea Ramsey.
While on tour, the Concordia Chapel Choir will also collaborate with high school choirs in Bemidji and Buffalo, Minnesota.