Building a new era of choral music at Calvin University
“I’ve always held Calvin in very high regard for what it is historically and its capacity to become in the future, distinctively as a Christian liberal arts university with a first-rate music program,” said Mark Stover.
This was Stover’s impression from a distance as he served on the faculty at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and then for the past six years at the University of Michigan where he served as associate director of choirs, conductor of the University Choir, and director of the Men’s Glee Club.
“My mentor, who is one of the closest people in my life, is Dr. Anton Armstrong, who is a conductor of the St. Olaf Choir,” said Stover. “He was at Calvin from 1980 to 1990. The ten years he spent at Calvin were absolutely formative to his life and his career.”
So, in spring 2024 when Dr. Pearl Shangkuan announced her retirement, Stover didn’t hesitate to apply for the open position.
“I wanted to have an opportunity to bring my passion, my love for people, my faith, and my love of music to build the new era of the choral area in the music department at Calvin,” said Stover.
And that’s what Stover is doing.
“The students here are remarkable, and they love to sing,” said Stover. “I have been rigorous in my invitation to welcome students into the choral ensembles.”
And just a few months in, Stover is seeing unexpected and unprecedented interest. Last year at this time nine students were singing in the Campus Choir. This year, the choir now fields 86 students.
“We have well over 200 students singing in some sort of choral ensemble at Calvin right now,” said Stover. “It’s a singing community, we love to sing, we love to experience worship through singing and to build community through song and through music making. I’ve experienced the exciting fruit of that over the course of my first year here, and that gets me excited about what we get to build.”
Stover intentionally uses the word “we” referencing not only the excellent students, but also his “A+ outstanding team of choral colleagues,” which includes Carrie Hoeksema (Women’s Chorale), Nate Glasper (Gospel Choir), and Sean Ivory (Oratorio Chorus and Alumni Choir).
“The choral family at Calvin is a thriving community with only capacity to grow from here,” said Stover. “It’s very exciting.”
And it’s a family that includes students from many different majors.
“Most ensembles are made up of non-music majors. This is a department that serves the entire university in a robust way,” said Stover. “This is a place where anybody who is a student can find a place to belong and thrive in their artistic expression. We have so many people that their experience in an ensemble becomes a defining time of their time here even though they aren’t music majors.”
While the number of students and majors they come from clearly demonstrate student interest in music, the recent investments in the music department emphasize the institutional commitment. Perhaps the most significant signal is in bringing back the music education program this fall, which already has 11 music education majors.
“I wouldn’t have looked at the job if they hadn’t recently brought the music education program back,” said Stover. “Music education, I believe, is our future as a department. I think it’s one of the most important things. To be a viable, thriving music department in the 21st century in the liberal arts context, you need great music education.”
And while Stover believes that to be true, he also sees Calvin’s approach to music education having added strength because of its depth.
“We are all created in God’s image and as being image bearers of the Creator, we have creative impulses in us. For me, it’s as a musician, as an artist, as a creator that gets to call people together in community to experience the wonder of music making, which I think is in itself kind of a sacred act,” said Stover. “I find that the rehearsal process is a process of spiritual formation. Whether I’m in sacred or secular contexts, I’ve always felt that way. There’s something transcendent about working collectively on a piece of music that’s formative about who we become as people. But, when we get to focus that specifically on the person of Jesus, it’s a remarkable encounter of a formational process of discipleship and of serving one another through the beauty of music and power of music.”
Now, six months into his new role, Stover knows he and his colleagues are building a strong choral program that will provide a solid foundation for students. And he’s not shy in sharing his excitement with prospective students.
“Calvin is going to nurture you in your body, mind, spirit, and voice. Your whole personhood is going to grow and be stretched and be challenged and nurtured in ways that is only possible in a place that provides what this community can offer. There’s an intentionality behind the way we do our work here,” said Stover. “The question is ‘what kind of person do you feel called to become and how can we be a resource to that calling in your life and walk alongside you and give you a place to really belong and bloom and grow in this undergraduate journey.’ This can be one of the most special seasons of life when you are in the right place, and Calvin is certainly that place for so many people and we hope it will be for so many more people to come.”
