Heartland Sings featured in WhatzUp magazine

courtesy of whatzup.com

“Heartland Sings wants this event to make an impact on Fort Wayne.”

Heartland Sings is a musical organization that’s unprecedented in a city like Fort Wayne in this day and age. 

They are a professional choir that performs all styles of vocal music, from classical through jazz and pop. Their concerts present between 16 and 38 singers. The seven principal singers are full-time paid staff members and the others earn part-time stipends.

We are late catching up with Heartland Sings this year since their 2023-24 season, their 27th, kicked off Oct. 8 at Plymouth Congregational Church, 501 W. Berry St., where they gave their first concert of all Spanish-language music. 

“In Music of the Americas, we wanted to try to get a good flavor, because there’s such a rich heritage from so many different cultures, from South America to Central America, Mexico, and some in the Caribbean,” artistic director Robert Nance said. “And so we are doing music that brings us right into the United States.”

“The whole point of this, of course, is to delve into cultures that exist here in Fort Wayne.”

GOING INTERNATIONAL

Heartland Sings doesn’t only present professional concerts. They want to encourage everybody to sing. 

“We have done a number of educational and outreach programs in the Hispanic and Latino community,” Nance said. “We’ve even started a Spanish-speaking choir in conjunction with the YMCA and Plymouth Congregational Church downtown.”

Much of what Heartland Sings performs could be called “classical” or “academic,” but most is ultimately based on folk music and songs people love to sing. Nance revels in featuring music written by living composers throughout the New World much more than stuffy old European classical masters — but they are represented, too.

There’s another reason Heartland Sings are featuring music in languages other than English this season. They have connected with an international community of professional singers, many of whom come to the U.S. for graduate school, and go on to perform and tour with opera companies and other groups. 

Heartland Sings recently hired three singers: tenor Dr. Wagner Pástor of Ecuador, bass Antonio Azpiri of Mexico City, and tenor Jude Balthazar of Haiti. The group sponsored them to emigrate to Fort Wayne, where they not only perform but also teach at their Vocal Arts Institute, 2402 Lake Ave., which accepts students at all levels. The institute holds monthly workshops and master classes.