Letters to Alumni (September 2025)

Rising to the Moment Together

On November 1, the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum gathered in Sanders Theatre for our first concert of the season. For many of our singers, it was a debut in that iconic space; for others, it was a return to a stage that feels like home. What united them all was a sense of excellence, purpose, and joy in the music we created together.

The Best Decision

Every spring, at our senior banquet, graduates speak about their time in Collegium. Year after year, we hear the same words: “Joining Collegium was one of the best decisions I made at Harvard.” Some even say it was the very best. These reflections are not sentimental exaggerations. They are evidence of transformation.

Students who enter Harvard searching for connection and meaning discover in Collegium something larger than themselves: a community that listens deeply, creates with care, and grows through music. Rehearsals, retreats, shared meals, and tours become more than activities—they are crucibles where leadership, empathy, and resilience are forged. Alumni know this truth well, because you have lived it too.

Excellence That Transforms

In our recent performances this fall and last spring—on campus and on tour throughout New England—the chorus demonstrated once again that musical excellence is not an abstract aspiration but a lived reality. With a remarkable blend of new and returning voices, our programs embodied both precision and expressive depth. For many in the audience, what lingered was not only the beauty of the sound but the palpable sense of community that radiated from the stage, creating moments of connection that will be long remembered.

This is what Collegium offers: music that does not simply entertain, but transforms. Each note we sing bears witness—to joy and to sorrow, to hope and to despair. Each performance is an act of courage in a fractured world, a reminder that voices joined together can move hearts, heal wounds, and inspire change.

The Role of Alumni

And yet, as powerful as the music is, what sustains Collegium is not only the dedication of its current students but the living bond with you, our alumni. You are proof that what students experience here does not fade after graduation. The friendships endure, the music continues to shape lives, and the sense of belonging ripples outward into every field of work and every corner of the world.

Your support matters in visible and invisible ways. When you attend concerts, host singers on tour, or offer encouragement, you remind students that they are part of something bigger. When you give financially, you make possible the opportunities that cannot be sustained by Harvard alone. And in a year when the University has cut over $10,000 from our budget—nearly 20%—with more cuts likely to come, your support has never been more vital.

Facing Financial Realities

The truth is that Harvard, in this moment of austerity, is prioritizing academics—teaching, research, and core learning—over student activities. While we are grateful that Collegium is now an academic course, these cuts still strike hard. Already, we have had to pivot our plans: instead of presenting Bach’s monumental St. Matthew Passion at Arts First this spring, we will perform Orff’s Carmina Burana, a thrilling but more financially feasible work with hopes of returning to Bach in 2027 (to mark the 300^th anniversary of the Matthew Passion).

We have also worked creatively to preserve excellence. This December, we will join forces with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra for the premiere of Benedict Sheehan’s new choral-orchestral setting of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, commissioned by the Choruses. Even in the face of budget constraints, we are determined to offer our students—and our audiences—transformational experiences.

But the reality is sobering. Without alumni support, we will face limitations on repertoire choices, collaborations, and touring opportunities. We will be forced to do less at a moment when our students need the Collegium experience most.

Looking Ahead

Our next international tour, scheduled for January 2027, is just 15 months away. Tours are milestones that crystallize what it means to be part of Collegium: they demand discipline, tireless work and coordination, and a galvanized community. They are also costly undertakings, especially in an era of rising travel expenses and uncertainty around international student mobility. The work of this year and next must be focused not only on preparing musically but on building the financial foundation to make the tour possible.

That is where you come in. Over the coming months, you will hear from our students on phonathon calls, at alumni events, and in the concert hall. These conversations are not only about dollars—they are about extending the circle of belonging that has defined Collegium since its founding.

A Call to Stay Connected

As we step into this season, I invite you to remember your own best decisions, the ways in which Collegium shaped you. Come to concerts. Sing with us when you can. Answer when our students call. Your presence matters. Your encouragement matters. Your investment matters.

The truth is simple: what we offer is life-transforming. It has been for you, it is for today’s students, and it will be for generations to come. With your support—your time, your resources, your belief—we will ensure that Collegium remains not only a choir, but a living community where voices and lives are forever changed.

Thank you for standing with us. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Dear Collegium Alumni, 

As the President and Manager of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum this fall, we are excited to kick off a new semester of singing and making memories together! 

We are exceedingly grateful for the opportunities and experiences we have had over the last year in Collegium. With pieces spanning 400 years and countless traditions, we engaged with a huge breadth of music.

• Collegium joined the Radcliffe Choral Society and Harvard Glee Club for a fun weekend of music-making and community building at the first HarChor retreat in recent years. 
• We were lucky to work with Collegium alum Daniel Melamed and the Harvard University Choir on a pair of Bach’s cantatas, celebrating the 300th anniversary of the composition of those pieces. 
• The choruses premiered James Kallembach’s opera, American Jezebel, which brought to life the trial of Anne Hutchinson and featured both professional and student soloists. 
• We were also extraordinarily excited to learn and perform Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien alongside Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning. 
• Collegium was given the unique opportunity to premiere four student compositions from the Harvard College New Music Initiative at Arts Fest, including one from Kieran Chung ‘27, one of Collegium’s own tenors. 
• Underground, Collegium’s acapella subset, performed throughout the year, bringing back subset classics like Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus and exploring the folk traditions of the Americas and Italy with pieces arranged by Collegium alumna Andrea Lanza ‘25.

In the fall of last year, we also welcomed Dr. Hana Cai for her first year as Associate Director of Choral Activities. We are incredibly grateful for a wonderful year with her and are excited to continue working with her and Dr. Andrew Clark as our conductors for the year, and Justin Blackwell as our amazing pianist. 

In the coming months, we are looking forward to welcoming a new class of auditionees into the Collegium community and continuing to make rich and meaningful music. In late September, we will be joining RCS and HCG for fall retreat at Camp Winaukee in New Hampshire, enjoying a weekend of rehearsing together and engaging in tradition, as well as embracing the amazing opportunity to workshop with Windborne, a four-person ensemble that performs folk music from around the world. Collegium’s fall concert with RCS during family weekend will feature Windborne and highlight the diversity of world music, including some of their arrangements. 

Winter will bring with it more enriching choral experiences. In December, the choruses will perform with members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra to premiere Benedict Sheehan’s A Christmas Carol. Through this concert cycle, we are deepening our relationship with Y2Y, a local youth shelter that will be receiving the proceeds from the concert. Collegium last collaborated with Y2Y for a benefit performance of Handel’s Messiah in 2021. In January, Collegium will be taking a tour to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., showcasing our ensemble on a national stage and giving students the opportunity to travel within the country during the year of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Once we return to campus in the spring, we will dive into even more exciting music. After opening the semester with a major work in our solo concert, Collegium will join RCS and HGC again at Arts Fest to perform Carl Orff’s jaw-dropping masterwork Carmina Burana.

We are so very excited for the year to come, and want to thank you for your support. Harvard is traversing rough waters right now, and we would not be able to engage with many of these amazing pieces or tour domestically without you. We hope you are as excited for the upcoming year as we are! Please stay in touch—we’d love to hear from you or see you soon in Cambridge!

Alex Heuss ‘26
President

Sam Lyczkowski ‘26
Manager