Each year all four choral ensembles collaborate to perform a major choral/orchestral work which is performed in the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines with a faculty/student orchestra assembled especially for this concert and conducted by Dr. Aimee Beckmann-Collier, Director of Choral Studies. Works performed recently include: Mozart - "Mass in C MInor," Brahms - "Ein Deutsches Requiem," Vaughan Williams - "Dona nobis pacem," Orff - "Carmina Burana."

On April 19, 2009, the combined choruses, faculty soloists, and faculty/orchestra will perform Stephen Paulus' oratorio, "To Be Certain of the Dawn." The work, with libretto by Michael Dennis Browne, uses the Holocaust as a starting point for reflection on the evils of human action and the hope of the human heart. The work, premiered in 2005, has recently been recorded by the Minnesota Orchestra.

Stephen Paulus has written more than 300 works and has been commissioned by major American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Michael Dennis Browne is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Minnesota. His works have been publsihed in The New Yorker, the American Poetry Review and numerous other journals and anthologies.

Both Paulus and Browne will come to campus several times in during the spring 2009 semester, discussing their work and participating in the rehearsal process. They will present the pre-concert lecture at 2:00 on April 19 in the East Lobby of the Civic Center.

Singers in the Drake choral program have enjoyed collaborations with a number of guest artists, participating in master classes, rehearsals, and performances on Drake's campus with the following:

Robert Sund, Sweden
The King's Singers, England
Boni Pueri, Czech Republic
Cantus, Minneapolis
Seoul Women's Chorus, South Korea
Sandra Snow, Michigan State University
Chanticleer, San Francisco