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From left: Noah Beck from Rushmore Music Camp, Deb Wantoch Yess and Lindsey Kopetzki, Waseca local and SDSU Concert Choir member performed at Sacred Heart Church Monday, Oct. 28. 

Lindsey Kopetzki and the SDSU Concert Choir Fall Tour 2024

The South Dakota State University Concert Choir under the direction of Dr. Laura Diddle made Waseca’s Sacred Heart Church the second venue on the group’s fall tour, performing the evening of Monday, Oct. 28. Also part of the tour were three other community concert stops and six high schools.
Dr. Laura Diddle is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at SDSU where she conducts the Concert Choir, Madrigal Singers and the women’s group Choralia.  She revealed “About 40 percent of our choir are music majors, the other 60 percent just love singing.” She was optimistic about the next day’s scheduled visit to Waseca High School and said, “We are also using this tour to hopefully recruit some students, or at least put the idea in their head to start thinking about college and attending SDSU. Diddle added, “I hope to get other kids singing. Even if they don’t go to SDSU, I just want them to sing.”
Waseca High School 2023 graduate Lindsey Kopetzki is a member of the SDSU choir and was one of 17 soloists. Kopetzki was very active in the Blue Jay music scene prior to graduating: She participated in marching band, band, jazz band, choir, show choir, choir sextets, and school musicals. A drum major for two years, she won “Outstanding Drum Major” awards at various competitions. She was accepted into the Minnesota Music Educators Association All State Choir her senior year. She also played the lead role in “Mama Mia” when it was performed by the Waseca drama department. 
Kopetzki is currently a sophomore at SDSU. She is pursuing majors in both political science and English, and intends to attend law school when she finishes her degrees. She says she chose SDSU in part because of its state-of-the-art facilities and because the school allows her to perform with both band and choir; she has been awarded scholarships for both.
Of her membership with the choir, she said, ““I love the choir and my director Dr. Laura Diddle. As a freshman my audition earned a spot as a  soprano in the Concert Choir, which is the college's top vocal group. To be accepted to this group students need to be able to not only sing well, but also read music, sight-sing, and listen within the ensemble to blend and emote as one voice.”  
In 2019 the SDSU choir performed at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, and at the Basilica of St. Francesco d’Assisi during their tour of Italy. Last year they went to both Sweden and Norway. For the fall tour 2024, which featured 15 songs in the performance repertoire, the first stop Sunday, Oct. 27, was St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Sioux Falls, SD. Monday, Oct. 28, was Sacred Heart Church in Waseca. On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the group was at Augustana Lutheran Church in St. Paul; that concert included a brief combined performance with Kantorei, an a cappella chamber choir based in the Twin Cities. The final performance of the tour was at the Larson Memorial Concert Hall Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center in Brookings, SD, on Friday, Nov. 1. 
 

 

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