On November 12, the Center for Faith and Life (CFL) Concert Hall welcomed back the King’s Singers. The group, originally founded in 1968 and named after King’s College in Cambridge, England, performed with Undeclared, one of Luther’s very own a capella groups.

The King’s Singers have been performing all across the globe for over 50 years and can perform up to 100 shows within a single season. The group holds two Grammys, an Emmy and a place in the Gramophone Magazine Hall of  Fame.

The King’s singers performed several songs across many genres, periods and languages. Their performance included everything from Renaissance period ballads to some Walt Disney classics, lasting about an hour and a half with a brief intermission.

As part of their time here on campus, the group also hosted a masterclass with the Nordic Choir and welcomed the tenor bass a cappella group Undeclared as their opener. Undeclared performed four songs in the CFL lobby before audience members took their seats within the main hall for the main act.

Undeclared co-leader Jacob Klingsten (‘25) originally approached Assistant Director of Campus Programming and Outreach and Director of Ticketing Bradley Phillips about a possible collaboration. 

“They’re a tenor-bass a cappella group, we’re a tenor-bass a cappella group,” Klingsten said. “There’s a bit of common interest here. So I went to [Phillips] in the box office in mid-August, [and] it was just like, ‘What if we asked just to see if we could open for them?’”

A collaboration between a Center Stage Series artist and a student-led group like this is not a standard part of the series, and Klingsten was honored that Undeclared had the honor of opening.

“I think there was a lot of excitement [among Undeclared],” Klingsten said. “I really tried to approach it with that excitement and not anxiety just because it’s such a cool opportunity.”

The concert was a part of the annual Center Stage Series. Organized by the Performing Arts Committee (PAC), the King’s Singers performance was the third of six total events organized for the year with the overarching theme of migration. The theme pays homage to the first organized migration from Norway to the US over 200 years ago by honoring the difficulty of leaving home but having the strength to brave new frontiers.

For the PAC Tech Chair Abby Carroll (‘27), this opportunity was a great example of why she joined the organization in the first place.

“It’s a special position to be in,” Carroll said, “to represent the school this way and to help keep these performances going. We want to keep the series going and want to keep these opportunities going because it enriches our culture.”

Carroll also spoke about how working with a group of this caliber brings a sense of positivity to campus. 

“It’s always surreal to me to know these people have been in so many important places and sung such beautiful music,” Carroll said. “All of our artists have been easy to work with, but [the King’s Singers] were especially warm and friendly. After their Nordic Choir Masterclass, I got the opportunity to escort them to dinner in the Union. During that five-minute walk, it was just so clear how friendly and genuine they were.”

The King’s Singers ensemble has performed at Luther College twice before, once in 1994 and once in 1997. Director of Programming and Outreach Susan Potvin (‘02) expanded more on what it means for well-established and recognized groups to not only perform at Luther once but to come back many times.

“I think it’s proof that Luther is on the map,” Potvin said. “They had previously been in Seattle, and then they were flying to the East Coast. But for them to be willing to come to our small town is pretty fantastic.”

Phillips, who has been working at Luther since 1989, was very happy to welcome the group back.

“It’s extremely special to have them back,” Phillips said. “I was almost teary-eyed sitting in the hall and listening to them. It just brought back all these memories from when they were here last. It’s great, and it’s a group that we can have back again and again.”

The next center stage series performance will be the Dance Group Ailey II on Friday, February 14, 2025. More information and tickets for the performance can be found on the Luther College Ticketing website and the Performing Arts Committee’s social media.