Between rehearsals, the singers had time to check out the sights around Times Square in New York City. From left, are Mary Bloch, Lori Berryman and Holly Spiegelhoff. (Submitted photo)
Mary Grieco
Special to the Catholic Herald
It was anything but an ordinary weekend for three Superior Diocese musicians. Instead of singing for Masses at their home parishes, Holly Spiegelhoff, Mary Bloch and Lori Berryman traveled to New York where they were part of a 175-voice choir at Carnegie Hall.
“Voices in the Hall,” a performance given in collaboration with the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, brought together singers from throughout the country and featured three well-known pastoral musicians: Curtis Stephan, Janet Sullivan Whitaker and Jesse Manibusan.
In preparation for the event, there were weeks of planning and practice.
“I heard about it last summer,” said Spiegelhoff, who is a member of NPM and director of music and liturgy at Holy Family Parish in Woodruff. “Once we officially signed up, there were a lot of emails back and forth.” Participants were sent links to the music, and it was all remote learning.
“We were given 75 pages of music,” said Bloch, a cantor at Nativity Parish in Rhinelander. “Some of the songs were familiar, others not at all.”
Although they had practiced on their own in advance, coming together with the entire choir was “amazing,” said Berryman, who is involved in music ministry at Holy Family. Before the performance, the choir rehearsed at other locations, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Then came the dress rehearsal at Carnegie Hall before the Feb. 16 performance. The choir was directed by nationally known pastoral musician Stephen Petrunak.
As a director herself, Spiegelhoff said she could relate to the uncertainty of rehearsing for the first time in a different acoustical environment. But it all came together, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“You look out and see that iconic space, and it’s just incredible to be there,” Bloch said.
Following the performance, choir members were given the opportunity to talk with fellow singers and the featured artists at an “afterglow” party.
“Besides being extremely talented, they are very down to earth,” Spiegelhoff said of the featured musicians. “For them, it is about more than music; they are truly witnesses as they give programs all over the country.”
Each of the Superior Diocese musicians has devoted decades to pastoral ministry. Spiegelhoff estimates that she has been involved for 30 years, and Bloch remembers starting 32 years ago. For Berryman, being in church choirs has been a lifelong commitment.
“I come from a musical family,” Berryman explained. “My dad was a band director, and I have always been in choruses. I hope my dad was watching me at Carnegie Hall from heaven.”
