The University of Notre Dame Folk Choir

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The University of Notre Dame Folk Choir

Our ensemble serves the Notre Dame community as one of its principal liturgical choirs.

08/26/2026

Welcome back to our lovely folkers! Last night, we celebrated the first regular rehearsal of the academic year and welcomed all of our newbies with the traditional cheers and first grotto prayer service. We are so excited for this coming year making music with so many wonderful people, both old and new!

08/16/2026

Welcome, Vale.

As students prepare to return, we are grateful to welcome Valentina “Vale” Varas as interim director of the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir. We asked Vale to introduce herself:

“I’m Valentina, though most people call me Vale. I was born and raised in the countryside just outside Santiago, Chile, surrounded by hills and mountains. I spent most of my childhood outdoors—playing with my dogs, climbing trees, working in our garden, and exploring nature. Every summer, my family traveled to the lakes of southern Chile, where I developed a deep love for the wilderness, hiking, and spending time with the people I love.

“I enjoy sports, being in the mountains, and long conversations over a good cup of coffee. My mom taught me to play guitar when I was little, and then I fell in love with music. Since middle school, I have played guitar and sung at school Masses, worship services, retreats, and events at my parish.

“I discovered choral music in high school, and it quickly became a passion that led me to study music at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to sing with wonderful choirs, study conducting, and continue growing both as a musician and as a person.

“Coming to Notre Dame has been an incredible gift, allowing me to combine my love for music, faith, and community. I recently completed the Master of Sacred Music in Choral Conducting, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to join the Campus Ministry team. I look forward to getting to know everyone and serving the Notre Dame community through music.”

Please join us in welcoming Vale, and keep her and the Choir in your prayers as they begin the year together.

08/12/2026

Every generation of the Folk Choir receives a life of prayer and song it did not create alone. Each also leaves something for those who come after.

These nine songs are one such offering.

Thank you to the students, alumni, collaborators, families, parishes, and friends who helped make and carry them. The complete album and lyric-video playlist will remain here whenever you want to return to the table.

Listen: https://lnk.to/dbt (link in bio on Instagram).

08/11/2026

The Notre Dame Folk Choir is known for being a group of talented sacred musicians, but the choir has so many hidden aspects that make it a special home on campus! Current choir members share the surprises that made them fall in love with the Folk Choir and why it serves as a unique community that unites musicians in faith and fellowship.

We are so excited to welcome new members this fall and can't wait to see you at our upcoming auditions! Visit choirs.nd.edu at the link in bio to sign up and for more information!

08/09/2026

At the end of the flood, Noah sends a raven into a changed world and waits for an answer.

The album’s final song stays with that waiting: covenant, creation, and the possibility that life can begin again. “Send for the Raven,” featuring Dave Edwards, closes the album not with certainty, but with a call to go, listen, and respond.

Listen to Drawn Back to the Table: https://lnk.to/dbt (link in bio on Instagram).

08/05/2026

“Bethany” has lived in this project before. For the album, the Choir returned to it and made a newly recorded and expanded version, with Emorja Roberson as soloist.

The song asks what love can do when words are no longer enough—and what it means to pour out what we have.

Listen to Drawn Back to the Table: https://lnk.to/dbt (link in bio on Instagram).

08/03/2026

Peter stands beside a charcoal fire—the place where his denial becomes impossible to ignore.

“Could I Believe?” lives in the space between shame and the possibility that being fully known may not mean being rejected. John Finch leads the song, and the Folk Choir gathers around Peter’s question.

Listen to Drawn Back to the Table: https://lnk.to/dbt (link in bio on Instagram).

07/31/2026

Today, the Folk Choir offers Drawn Back to the Table.

These nine songs were made by a community: students who kept returning to Gospel stories together, and artists who entered that work as listeners, teachers, and fellow makers. The album carries years of writing, rehearsing, praying, revising, traveling, and learning to trust one another’s gifts.

We are grateful for every person who helped carry it:

Franky Rousseau — Producer, Guitars
Dominic Mekky — Co-Producer, Keyboards, Arrangements, Orchestrations
Rob Moose — Strings
Ike Sturm — Bass
Arthur Hnatek — Drums
Jay Rudolph — Drums
Dana Nielsen — Session + Mix Engineer
Blake La Grange — Mix + Mastering Engineer
Robert Friedrich — Mix + Mastering Engineer
Tristan Cooley — Lyrics
Maddy Sturm — Artwork + Lyric Videos

Vocals: Danielle Rose, Sarah Kroger, Marie Miller, Erin Hogan, John Finch, Emorja Roberson, Dave Edwards, Chanda Rule, and Emma Frank.

Recorded at East West Studios in Los Angeles, California, and the University of Notre Dame.

Every generation of the Folk Choir receives a life of prayer and song it did not create alone. These songs are one offering from this generation, made with gratitude for everyone who helped the Choir become what it is and hope for everyone who will gather next.

Listen: https://lnk.to/dbt

07/30/2026

Drawn Back to the Table begins with “Memory” and ends with “Send for the Raven.”

Between them are “Bethany,” “I Will Go,” “Drawn Back to the Table,” “Veronica,” “Beside My Shepherd Again,” “Could I Believe?,” and “Mary’s Song.”

Together, the songs move through memory, grief, surrender, doubt, recognition, communion, and response. This is the order in which the story is meant to be heard.

Tomorrow, the complete album is offered to you.

07/28/2026

For several years, members of the Folk Choir kept returning to the stories of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection—not because the stories were unfamiliar, but because they needed to become true among us again.

Drawn Back to the Table grew from that return. Students brought grief, doubt, friendship, hope, and faith into writing, music, rehearsal, prayer, and conversation.

This music was made by learning to entrust something to one another. Students began with Scripture and their own lives. They wrote and revised together, set one another’s words to music, and brought the work into the full Choir. Collaborating artists entered as listeners, teachers, and fellow makers.

No one person made the whole thing. The songs changed as people listened, questioned, offered their gifts, and allowed private ideas to become common prayer.

The album arrives Friday, July 31.

Listen or save: https://lnk.to/dbt (link in bio on Instagram).

Address

319 Coleman Morse Center
Notre Dame, IN
46556

Telephone

+15746315652

Website

http://folkchoir.com/

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