NEWS 

Thanks to your advocacy, dedication, and enthusiasm, 2023 was a milestone year for Lutheran Summer Music in countless ways. We invite you to learn more about this past year in our 2023 Year in Review.

As a laboratory for musical artistry and learning, LSM continues to develop new resources during each summer’s academy and festival. We are pleased to share these free downloadable resources for students, teachers, and congregations.

2023 was the final summer Doug Geston, owner of Westmark Productions, shared his audio and visual expertise with the LSM community. Doug is happily retiring after 25 years of recording concerts, recitals, and worship services. Thousands of LSM students, faculty, and families have enjoyed Doug’s high-quality recordings as a way to encapsulate their profound experiences each summer.

Although the last chord of LSM 2023 rang out more than two months ago, the sights and sounds of a wonderful and robust summer continue to reverberate in many ways—a fitting reminder on this feast day that earthly music is but a foretaste of the great and promised feast with choirs of saints and angels.

Now is the time to invest in our shared future. With a combination of current and legacy gifts, the creation of endowments, a focus on alumni enthusiasm, and your enduring generosity it is our goal to raise $6 million to secure the future of LSM through the STRENGTH and STAY campaign.

Peter Wessler served as the LSM Academy Director for 17 years before his death in 2020. LSM established the Peter Wessler Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund to honor him and to ensure his legacy continues into perpetuity. Henry was chosen as the designee for this award due to his warm presence and leadership among students during the 2023 Academy.

LSM’s inaugural Alumni Award was presented to Dr. Sangeetha Rayapati during LSM 2023 at the annual Board of Directors Board of Directors Reception on Saturday, July 22, 2023. Dr. Rapayati delivered a heartfelt acceptance speech that expounded on the fortuitous ways LSM comes into our lives, continues to shape us, and leads us down paths of service and meaning. Read her touching full speech here.

Lutheran Summer Music is pleased to present the recipient of the 2023 Carl Schalk Scholarship Award: Eliana from Kirkwood, Missouri. LSM has established the Dr. Carl Schalk Scholarship Endowment fund to honor Dr. Schalk’s legacy not only in name, but in the promise that the future of music and the Church which he served so faithfully will be preserved through the training and nurturing of young people.

Performing a Bach cantata within worship is a long-standing tradition and special treat for the LSM community every summer. This experience connects LSM to generations of the church dating back to Bach’s first known cantata in 1707. This year, LSM will perform Cantata BWV 18. The service will include other Bach movements, including his famous “Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring” from BWV 147. 

The value of the LSM experience and its transformational impact are immeasurable. LSM is committed to ensuring that all students, regardless of their financial circumstances, can be part of this life-changing community of music and faith. The 2023 Faculty & Studio Sponsors help ensure that ALL students are able to confidently dedicate time to building genuine relationships, pursue excellence in music, search for meaning, explore vocations, prepare for college and young adulthood, and obtain a sense of belonging and renewed faith.

This summer, Lutheran Summer Music expanded its efforts with an extensive outreach initiative, bringing the LSM experience off campus and into the local and global community. Faculty, students, and fellows are offering their musical gifts in church services, retirement communities, and even full-length recitals off campus. LSM also enhanced the livestream experience for over 20 recitals and concerts that serve the national and international audience of LSM.

In recognition of the deep importance of LSM and the work of our faculty and students, the Rupert Dunklau Foundation has awarded LSM a $25,000 match grant for any new, increased, or renewed gift (if it has been more than 36 months) to LSM!

LSM is thrilled to announce Dr. Sangeetha Rayapati as the inaugural LSM Alumni Award recipient. A professor, performing artist, and the mayor of Moline, IL, Dr. Rayapati is an exemplary model of a collaborative leader and humble servant working for positive change in her community.

LSM is pleased to announce that longstanding advocate, leader, and supporter Charles Sukup of Sheffield, Iowa, is this year’s recipient of the Dr. Carlos Messerli Service Award for outstanding service to the mission of Lutheran Music Program.

LSM Fellows serve as teaching assistants to the faculty and role models to the students. Fellows demonstrate high-caliber musicianship and a commitment to an inclusive and welcoming community. Our 2023 Fellows were selected for these prestigious positions after a rigorous application and audition process, and are excited to play an important role in the 2023 community and program.

Musicians from the award-winning Apollo’s Fire ensemble will be joining LSM on Valparaiso campus working with our students and performing this summer June 30 - July 2.

Because of the generosity of many donors, the vast majority of LSM 2023 faculty studios, concerts, and events have been sponsored. Several sponsorships are still needed- are you able to help LSM ensure all events are supported for 2023?

LSM is excited to introduce the first inaugural LSM Annual Alumni Award. Nominations are due by May 31, 2023.

In an outpouring of generosity and enthusiasm, over 140 alumni, parents, and friends Stepped Up and supported LSM students during the inaugural Step Up LSM initiative.

The Eugene and Mary Sukup Church Music Program renews LSM’s focus on preparing the next generation of church musicians and organists and expands LSM’s curriculum and educational offerings.

Many students are finding newfound success in earning their tuition through crowdfunding. A new initiative provides an opportunity to raise funds that might not have otherwise existed.

LSM is now hiring for seasonal staff positions as well as accepting applications for our tuition-free Fellowship program. Spend a rewarding summer immersed in music within a caring and supportive environment at LSM 2023.

We invite you to relive your favorite moments from 2022 in these pages and gain an even deeper insight into the impact of LSM from first-hand accounts of students, faculty, fellows, families, and supporters.

LSM is excited to continue to build upon its nationally renowned faculty with the addition of Dr. Shannon Gravelle as the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Endowed Festival Choir Director for LSM 2023. Having previously served as Dean of Students (2007 & 2008) as well as a counselor (2005 & 2006), Dr. Gravelle knows and understands the LSM community well.

Over 80 alumni from every year of LSM joined the students, faculty, and staff during LSM 2022 Festival Week for their first reunion. As alumni shared memories, connected with old and new friends, and made music together, the 40-year history of LSM was brought together through each person’s unique experience.

This 40th anniversary year, the LSM choir has the honor of premiering the piece “The Lily and the Bird,” composed by LSM’s composer-in-residence Benjamin Krause and commissioned by the David Krause family. The choral work includes a string quartet and oboe, and is based largely on Christ's words in Matthew and Luke: "Behold the birds of the air…consider the lilies of the field…"

Performing a Bach cantata within worship is long-standing tradition and special treat for the LSM community every summer. Bach cantatas provide a wide range of musical challenges and delights, from beautiful chorales to energetic fugues, as well as poignant texts sung enthusiastically in their original German. This experience connects LSM to generations of the church dating back to Bach’s first known cantata in 1707. This year, LSM will perform Cantata 172.

Every year, a student concerto audition is held during Week One of LSM. Prior to the audition recital, interested students first submit a recording for consideration before moving along in the audition process. Seven students performed in the concerto audition recital this year.

Dottie Burroughs, “Dean Dot” was there at the beginning of LSM, calling Dr. Carlos Messerli and asking where she could help in 1981. Throughout her time, she has served in a variety of roles—from counselor to Dean of Students to an instructor. Now, Dean Dot has returned to LSM for the 40th anniversary season. Follow along as she shares her thoughts on LSM 2022! (And check back often!)

Excitement fills the air as LSM 2022 begins! Students, faculty, fellows, and counselors have arrived on the campus of Valparaiso University to form this year’s LSM community and kick off the 40th anniversary celebration.