BYU-Idaho Radio · Rachel Keppner Interview
Rexburg Arts is sponsoring a community choir concert this next Sunday. The Rexburg Family Community Choir, a new choir directed by Rachel Keppner, was organized to help give music enthusiasts in the area a place to perform in a group setting.
“We have a wonderful community orchestra if you’ve ever heard their concerts, and so there have been people requesting a community choir,” Keppner said. “I was brought into the city of Rexburg and hired as their music specialist in the Cultural Arts Department to form this choir and we’re starting out with the Spirit of Spring Concert just to … we’re just kind of dabbling and seeing what the community needs.”
The Spirit of Spring Concert will be performed in the Rexburg Tabernacle Civic Center, which Keppner says is a great space for a choir.
“Singing in that space: there’s such a good feeling in the building, and just the sound, it just comes back at you and you just … it’s just a great feeling,” she said.
There are a lot of interesting numbers to look forward to in the show as well. One assistant director for the Rexburg Family Community Choir is a choir member and conductor for Gladys Knight and her Saints United choir. The Saints United learns their music by ear, and the Rexburg Family Community Choir will do the same for one of their numbers.
“It’s kind of a call and response, so the director will teach each part, their part just by ear, we have no written music, and then they’ll sing it and we sing it back and then we combine it together,” Keppner said. “And it’s really fun! We’re going to kind of do a little demonstration of that as part of the concert.”
The Rexburg Family Community Choir will perform its Spirit of Spring concert Sunday, April 30 at 7 p.m. in the Rexburg Tabernacle Civic Center at 51 N Center Street. This is a free event for all ages, so feel free to bring the family for what will surely be a wonderful Sunday evening.