Every singing group on campus came together to perform at the annual “Festival Sing” concert to kick off Campus Ministry’s Mission Week. There were performances from the Concert Choir, the Greysounds, the Belles, the Chimes, and the Chapel Choir. To finish off the show, all the groups sang a song together. 

“Festival Sing” is one of the few events on campus that brings all the music on campus together in one show. Bobby Dykeman ’23 is the president of the Loyola Greysounds, the co-ed a cappella group. 

Dykeman said, “The goal of ‘Festival Sing’ is to bring together the Evergreen Campus through the art of music and singing. I enjoy being a part of this festival because it gives me the chance to listen to the hard work of all of the vocal groups on campus.” 

The Concert Choir, a co-ed group, opened the show” with “Hallelujah” by Beethoven, followed by “The Road Home” by Stephen Paulus. Their angelic, relaxing harmony was met with a huge round of applause from the audience. 

The Greysounds followed and performed “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron and “Sunny” by Boney M. The group had the crowd dancing and clapping along to their entertaining performance. 

Dykeman said, “I enjoy being a part of the Loyola Greysounds because it provides me an escape from my day-to-day responsibilities. I can leave all of my troubles at the door and have fun creating music with some of the greatest people I have met in my entire life. The Loyola Greysounds truly is like a second family and I wouldn’t trade my four years with them for the world.” 

The all-female a cappella group, The Belles, performed next, beginning with “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac, which was a crowd favorite. The unified group was dressed in white and finished their performance with “Before the Dawn” by Tori Kelly. 

The Loyola Chimes, the all-male a cappella group, followed the Belles with “Some Nights/We Are Young” by Fun and “Run Away to Mars” by TALK. The Chimes, also dressed in white, brought the crowd to dancing and clapping. Soloist Charlie Bell ’26 encouraged the audience during the performance by yelling “Let me see you clap!” in the middle of their first song, and the crowd happily obliged. 

Ben Grossman ’23, president of the Chimes, said, “I’ve been in the group for four years. I’m running it now. It’s a 40-year tradition on campus, so it’s really cool to be a part of something like that.” He said, “I’ve loved the Chimes for the past 4 years. It’s like the best group of people on campus.” 

The Loyola Chapel Choir is a co-ed group and was accompanied by Michael Moseley ’26 playing the organ, Peter Davin ’23 playing the flute, and Nina Jones ’25 on piano. This talented group of almost 40 singers closed the group performances with “The Hour Has Come” by Michael Pierce and “Canticle of the Turning” by Rory Cooney. 

To close the successful show, all the groups sang “Lean on Me” by Mark Hayes together. Dozens of singers stood on the altar of the Alumni Memorial Chapel as friends and family of the singers cheered and danced from the pews as the massive group sang. 

Each of these groups have many upcoming performances this spring. The Belles, the Chimes, and the Greysounds will be performing at Relay for Life on April 1 in Reitz Arena. The Belles and Chimes have their annual spring “Chorbusters” performance on April 28 and 29 at 7 p.m. in McManus Theater. The Chapel Choir will be singing at 5 p.m. mass on Palm Sunday on April 2 and at the 5 p.m. RCIA Mass with Bishop Madden on April 16. Both masses will be held in the Alumni Memorial Chapel. The Concert Choir has their spring concert on April 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Chapel. Finally, the Greysounds have their spring concert on May 1 at 8 p.m. in McManus Theater. 

Dykeman said, “All of Loyola’s vocal groups make an appearance, and every one of them has put in a bunch of hard work throughout the year to get to this point. These talented groups are beyond excited to put on an amazing show that you won’t want to miss!”

Be sure to mark your calendars to support each of these groups and their performances!