ArtSmart’s Lucas DeJesus is Champion in World Choir Games

Lucas DeJesus is the Director of National Programs for ArtSmart, but did you know he is also a professional musician and choral nerd? This summer, Lucas participated in the 2024 World Choir Games in Auckland (Aotearoa), New Zealand with the Delaware Choral Scholars (DCS). The competition included up to 8,000 singers from around the world. Lucas’s choir received Gold Medals in all four categories it competed in: Mixed Choirs, Sacred Choral Music A Cappella, Contemporary Music, and Spiritual. And to top that, they finished as WORLD CHAMPIONS in three of the categories! Read his personal experience below.

Off to Auckland (Aotearoa), New Zealand

This summer, I had the incredible privilege of participating in the 2024 World Choir Games in Auckland (Aotearoa), New Zealand, with the Delaware Choral Scholars (DCS). The choir consisted of current students from the University of Delaware, recent and seasoned graduates, and professional friends like myself, all under the direction of Paul D. Head and Arreon Harley-Emerson. Between September 2023 and June 2024, the choir met for three weekends of rehearsals in Delaware, culminating in a farewell performance in Wilmington.

On July 2nd, the choir flew to San Francisco, where we stayed in Napa until July 8th. While on the West Coast, we had intensive rehearsals at Paul’s hometown church, Napa Methodist Church. Choir members were hosted by families primarily from the church who graciously took us in for the week. I was housed with my good friend, Steven Berlanga, whom I have the joy of singing with in EXIGENCE and Convoco throughout the year. Our host, Colleen, was absolutely spectacular. We were spoiled with unbelievable hospitality, great food, and memorable late-night conversations about music and life.

On July 4th, all the choir members were invited to a block party on the street where many of our host families lived. At the party, I unbelievably met the winemaker of one of the wines I had served at my wedding in October! It turned out she was one of our choir’s hosts and lived on the same block where I was staying. Upon realizing this, we immediately took a picture together and video-called my wife, Kelsey, to share the story and make the introduction. What a small world!

Rehearsals in Napa focused on fine-tuning the music in preparation for the World Choir Games, including memorization of all 16 pieces we would be performing across four competitive sets. These were long and intense 12-14 hour days. On our last day in Napa, we gave a full performance of all the music we had been working on from memory for the church and our host families. It was a bittersweet way to say goodbye—I will definitely miss Colleen dearly!

On July 8th, at midnight, we departed from San Francisco on an overnight flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We arrived around 6 a.m. on July 9th and were picked up by a coach bus from the airport. While on our way to the hotel where we’d be staying, our bus driver asked if we could sing one of our pieces. He had been transporting other choirs and wanted to see how our sound compared. Despite the vocal fatigue, jet lag, and general exhaustion, we were thrilled to share one of our spirituals with him. He was very impressed, said we were in the upper tier of what he’d heard so far, and wished us the best of luck in our upcoming performances.

Upon arriving, we were greeted by our resident chaperone, Sue, who would be our guide and liaison for the duration of our stay. We stayed at the Airedale Boutique Suites Hotel, right in the heart of Auckland across the street from the Town Hall, where much of our performing would take place. The next two weeks were a whirlwind of sectionals, warm-ups, rehearsals in obscure places, events, competitive sets, interactions with other choirs from around the world, and, of course, spending time with our fellow choir mates through individually planned excursions around and outside the city.

Among these excursions were a trip up the Sky Tower, a hike/scooter ride up Mt. Eden, a fusion of different cultural cuisines all over the city, a ferry to Waiheke Island for vineyard tours and wine tasting, and an unforgettable trip to Hobbiton, where the Shire scenes of the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed.

Now, back to the primary objective: the competition. The World Choir Games were divided into two weeks of competitions, each containing different categories of choral music. Within each week, there were open categories—meaning anyone could compete in them—and there were champions categories—only choirs that had previously competed and placed in other high-profile competitions around the world could enter these. Since DCS has a history of successful competitive singing in other countries, we registered for four different champions categories—the most allowed, and the most of any choir in the World Choir Games. We competed in categories C8 – Mixed Choirs, C15 – Sacred Choral Music a cappella, C19 – Contemporary Music (Mixed Voices), and C22 – Spiritual.

The World Choir Games kicked off with the opening ceremonies, which set the context and atmosphere for what was to come, featuring performances from both local and visiting groups and artists. We were one of a select few choirs invited to perform in the first Choral Kaleidoscope Concert. This performance featured several choirs specializing in different genres of choral music. It was a great honor to be included and an awesome opportunity for us to put our name and sound out there to the rest of our fellow choral competitors. The rest of our first week included our Mixed Choirs and a cappella Sacred Music sets. Our first week culminated with the first Champions Awards Ceremony. Scoring is done by a panel of approximately eight judges for each set. The lowest and highest scores are eliminated. Bronze medals are awarded to choirs who scored a cumulative 40-60 points, silver for 60-80 points, and gold for 80-100 points. The choirs who score highest (and are ranked in the gold tier) for their respective categories are dubbed World Champions of that category. At the first awards ceremony, we earned a gold medal in the Sacred Music a cappella set and were named World Champions in the Mixed Choirs category!

The second week of competition included an additional 7,000-8,000 singers (in comparison to the approximately 2,000 in week one) and kicked off with the Parade of Nations. All choirs gathered in a plaza at the end of the main street in town with their countries’ flags and their choirs’ colors/attire. It was incredible to see so many groups from all over the world in the same place at the same time, celebrating our diversity and love of choral music. In the second week, DCS got a last-minute private invitation to perform at a meeting of the World Choirs Council. It felt like a small-scale version of singing for world leaders at a UN assembly, except these were choral leaders at the World Choir Games. Despite a small, dry space, the performance was well executed and well received by the council. The rest of the week included competing in the Contemporary Music (Mixed Voices) and Spiritual sets. The week ended with the second and final Champions Award Ceremony, where DCS was named World Champions in BOTH the Contemporary Music (Mixed Voices) and Spiritual sets! How exhilarating.

By complete chance, we were picked up from the final ceremony by the same bus driver who had taken us from the airport. We were thrilled to share that we had finished our stay as gold medalists in all four of our categories and World Champions in three of them!

There were so many other impactful experiences during these three weeks, like practicing in a shopping mall after-hours, in Sue’s apartment building’s billiard rooms, or outside in a random alleyway. Or meeting up with my wife’s colleague for coffee, who lives in Auckland, building new friendships, meaningful late-night conversations with friends, and sharing the whole experience with one of my best friends since high school, Tom Kuchler. For me, the most special part was winning the Spiritual set. This music is so deeply important to me both as a staple of American music and as the expression and a reminder of the struggle my own ancestors endured. It was an emotional and gratifying experience to feel that I could do justice to the music in honor of my lineage. And what a way to represent our country with pride!