Conductor, Mark Stover

Ensemble Statement: The University of Michigan Men's Glee Club will embark on its 163rd year serving as ambassadors of song in 2022-2023 as we represent our university around the world. We are 100 tenors and basses, made up primarily of non-music majors from across the university who gather twice weekly for rehearsal around our "three pillars" of tradition, camaraderie, and musical excellence. These three pillars are the foundation upon which we thrive as a community of artists, helping to empower our mission to sing across the broad array of tenor/bass repertoire and to share performances with a musical message and meaning to inspire and transform singer and audience, alike. Recent performances by the Men's Glee Club included a program in November of 2019 focused on mental health advocacy. In collaboration with The Chalkboard Project, Garrett's Space, Michigan Medicine, and the Washtenaw Department of Health and Human Services, we commissioned brand new music ("You Are Enough: A Mental Health Suite") by composer Aron Accurso and curated an extended set of repertoire to help raise awareness and address the stigma related to the topic of mental health. It was a transformational experience for our choir members and the community at-large and helped to engage countless people into their exploration of caring for the mental health of themselves and others. Most recently, in April of 2022, we performed a concert program which featured the world premiere of Tesfa Wondemagegnehu's "To Repair." This work was commissioned by the Men's Glee Club in Summer of 2020 as our country confronted it's long history of systemic racism and racial inequality. In this recent performance, the Men's Glee Club partnered with the Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, serving Southwest Detroit to help build safe and thriving environments where people want to live, work and play.