The Seminary Chorus

For almost 80 years the Seminary Chorus has appeared regularly in congregations of the Wisconsin Synod to proclaim the Word of God in song and to represent the ministry of the seminary.

Membership in the chorus is open to all students, and the group rehearses three times each week. The choir presents an annual Christmas Concert, performed twice on the second Sunday in December to several thousand guests. A Graduation Concert is held the evening before the seminary’s graduation service in May. The choir regularly participates in worship at nearby congregations during the school year and conducts a concert tour every during the seminary’s mid-semester break or over the Easter vacation. The 2013 tour (February 28-March 5) takes the choir to WELS congregations in Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama. The chorus has appeared in 40 of the United States as well as in Canada during its long history.

Professor James P. Tiefel has directed the Seminary Chorus since 1985. He is a member of the seminary’s Practical Theology Department and teaches courses in worship and preaching. As the school’s dean of chapel he is responsible for campus worship and also serves as director of student field services. A member of the WELS Commission on Worship, he was involved in the production of Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal and Christian Worship Supplement and is active with the commission’s School of Worship Enrichment and National Worship Conference. He is pulpit assistant and director of music at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee.