By Bailey Musselman '18

Nova Singers is celebrating its 30th anniversary with something new, educational, and audacious. The professional choir, led by Knox Director of Choirs Laura Lane, received a Challenge America grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to bring bluegrass band Monroe Crossing to Galesburg as guest artists for the choir's winter concert.

Monroe Crossing is a five-piece bluegrass band from Minnesota that will join Nova Singers in a performance of "The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass" by Carol Barnett.

"The whole idea is so creative, unique, and unusual," said Lane. "Barnett wanted to combine two styles that do not go together at all. Bluegrass music with traditional chorus music ... it's audacious of her."

Nova Singers, a 21-voice professional choir made up of singers within a 50-mile radius of Galesburg, was created 30 years ago when Lane first arrived at Knox.

Nova Singers decided to use part of the grant to help bring Monroe Crossing to Galesburg, and the other part of the grant to bring elementary school children to an informational program about bluegrass music. All sixth-graders in Galesburg will come to the Knox campus to hear Monroe Crossing talk about the history of bluegrass and demonstrate it with their own music.

"We're stretching ourselves in several different ways with this concert because it's a stretch for us to do bluegrass style as a professional choir," Lane said about the program. "We're stretching ourselves by bringing in this other group to help us do it. And we're doing this big educational outreach day where all these children are coming to learn." 

Mary Houlihan '17 has been singing with Nova Singers for three seasons as well as keeping busy with the Knox College Choir. "I love singing with the Knox College Choir and that group of people are very important to me, but I can't deny how lucky I feel to be able to sing with a group as talented as Nova Singers," reflected Houlihan, "Each person in Nova Singers has such a great attitude about the music and has been so welcoming to me as a new member. My involvement with Nova Singers has also allowed me to really build confidence in my singing ability because of the challenges of both a smaller group of singers than I am used to, and more difficult music."

Photograph of bluegrass band, "Monroe Crossing."