About Choir

Our Mission:
The Mission of the Concert Choir is to dedicate our Spirits, Minds, and Voices to excel as a Unified Body in the Communication of a Sacred Choral Tradition to the Glory of God and the Enjoyment of the Listener.

Jamestown College, North Dakota's oldest independent liberal arts college, is home to one of the finest concert choirs in the midwest. This ensemble, now under the direction of J. Aaron McDermid, has distinguished itself across the United States, Canada, and in nine tours of Europe.

The choir has received critical, as well as popular, acclaim. The Frankfurter Allemeine, one of Germany's most influential newspapers, wrote “This group of sixty-five voices truly lives up to its reputation of possessing exuberance, energy, and musical excellence.”

“I was extremely impressed with your concert at Notre Dame in Paris,” wrote Gilles J. Daziano, special assistant for cultural affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, after a recent performance tour. “Although for precisely twenty years now, I have been arranging numberless concerts at the Cathedral, I do not recall such enthusiasm ever on the part of any audience there. And the standing ovation that you were gratified with is most unusual in this country and in churches in particular.”

The variety of musical styles, sounds, and unity of choral sound will delight you. Make plans now to hear these great young singers.

Critical praise for the Jamestown Choir

“The Jamestown College Choir came to Grass Valley Monday evening and captured the hearts of a large audience.”
- The Union – Grass Valley – Nevada City, California

“The choir performed a well planned program of choral literature with such excellence as to place it easily in the top category of a cappella choirs nationally.”
- Olav Elling Eidbo – former Music Dept. Chair – University of Texas at El Paso

“This choir is marvelously flexible. They have a feeling for Bach unlike any college choir I have heard. They performed this [Bach motet] better than many European choirs!”
- Paul Fetler, Contemporary American Composer

“This choir and Norte Dame were made for each other. They consist of the same elements; faith, strength, and beauty.”
- Father Emile Bèrard – Dean of Notre Dame Cathedral – Paris, France

“In sing folk music of any description there is a great temptation for choir and director alike to think, ‘Oh, this is only too easy.’ This is not so in the Jamestown Choir. Every phrase is carefully prepared, every climax meticulously worked, every note truly placed and every sound mindful of the niceties of diction.”
- Max Laidlaw – Music Critic – Leader-Post – Regina, Saskatchewan

© 2006-2007 Jamestown College Concert Choir
J. Aaron McDermid, Director