The history of choir at Kellogg Community College is in many ways a history of the College itself – the first KCC choir began in 1956, the year the College was founded.
Today KCC is home to three residential choirs – the Branch County Community Chorus, Concentus Vocal Ensemble and the Kellogg Singers – as well as an Opera Workshop Ensemble, Jazz Band and Concert Band.
Dr. Gerald Case-Blanchard, director of Vocal Arts at KCC and coordinator of the College’s music programming, is entering his 23rd year of choral directing at KCC and estimates thousands have lifted their voices in the various halls and classrooms at KCC in the intervening decades. And the audiences those voices spoke to number in the tens of thousands.
In addition to the College’s residential choirs, KCC’s Arts and Communication Department offers a robust music program including a brand-new Associate in Fine Arts in Music degree. Additional music opportunities for students and community members alike include individualized voice and instrument lessons, master classes, student recitals and other music initiatives, including youth performance camps.
“KCC’s choral programming evolved from a music club into a more formal singing organization in the late 1950s because the founding members and their passionate leaders found great joy through the choral tradition, a tradition which continues to be the cornerstone of the program today,” Case-Blanchard says. “The choirs at KCC continue to forge new paths as we look forward to the next 70 years of music-making experiences.”
KCC Choir Milestones, 1956-Present
1956: Student Wendell Thorngate founds the Battle Creek Community College Music Club, which serves as the precursor to the College’s first choir.
1956-57: The ensemble becomes an official College choir when Alfred G. “Pops” Richards is hired as the institution’s first choral director, formally establishing the Battle Creek Community College Choir.
1959: With the College’s name change to Kellogg Community College, the choir is renamed the Kellogg Community College Choir. In later years, the ensemble becomes known as the Kellogg Singers.
1996: KCC Opera Workshop founded; Kellogg Singers first concert tour and performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
2001: Branch County Community Chorus founded under the leadership of choral director Deric Craig.
2004: KCC Choral Union presents Haydn’s “Lord Nelson Mass” in Lansing with the Lansing Chamber Symphony.
2006: KCC Choral Union partners with the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra for the first time in KCC choral history to present Peter Boyer’s “Dreaming a World.” The performance is the first of nearly half a dozen major collaborations with the symphony since.
2007: KCC Choral Union biannual concert touring program established. The first tour features performances through Illinois and Indiana.
2007: Kellogg Singers open for the internationally renowned ensemble Take 6 at Miller Auditorium as part of the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music in Kalamazoo.
2008: KCC Choral Union tours through Ohio, featuring concert performances at the Toledo Museum of Art and other prestigious institutions.
2010: Kellogg Singers open for three-time Grammy award nominated ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock at Miller Auditorium in the choirs’ second collaboration with the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music.
2010: KCC Choral Union tours through Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.
2012: First international concert tour, with performances in Ireland.
2012: KCC Choral Union debuts with the Monroe Community Chorale and Symphony Orchestra to present Handel’s “Messiah” at the historic IHM Motherhouse Chapel in Monroe.
2014: Second international concert tour, with performances along the Almafi Coast of Italy and in Rome.
2014: KCC Opera Workshop presents its first major opera production with Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” The production features a chorus consisting of members from all of the College’s residential choirs accompanied by a 14-piece orchestra.
2016: KCC Opera Workshop presents world premiere of Michigan composer Karen Phipps’ “Snow White: The Opera” in December.
2021: The choirs release their first-ever professionally produced virtual choir performances, recorded during the COVID lockdowns and featured on public radio’s WMUK. The video productions require more than a dozen KCC choir members to record their parts alone for later editing.
2024: The KCC Choral Union presents the world premiere of the College’s new alma mater, “Alma Mater KCC,” during its 18th annual “Singing in the Spring” choral concert series.
2025: KCC Choral Union travels on its third international concert tour, performing in the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).
KCC Choral Directors, 1956-Present
Alfred G. Richards, founding director of the KCC choral program (1956-59)
Harriet Batchelder (1964-66)
Harold Burch (1966-68)
Gordon Smith (1969-88)
Suzanne Bedient (1990-92)
David Young (1993-94)
Mark Wherry (1994-95)
Robert Walker (1996-2001)
Deric Craig, founding director of the Branch County Community Chorus (2001-04)
Dr. Gerald J. Case-Blanchard (2004-Present).
This article first appeared in the March 2026 edition of BruIN magazine. To read the issue online, please visit kellogg.edu/bruinmagazine.
