“Please do not drop Sister Hall!”
That’s what Men’s Chorus member Justin P. Gallo (BS ’19) thought the first time he saw members of the group and the International Folk Dance Ensemble launch chorus director Rosalind B. Hall (MM ’92) eight feet into the air in rehearsals for the Homecoming Spectacular! last year.
It was part of a showstopping conclusion to a medley of Welsh folk songs—melodies Hall sang growing up in the “land of song.” The number started quiet, but the energy quickly rose with tales of farmers tossing sheepskins. Soon enough, Hall took flight too, amid rambunctious chants of “fol-di-rol-di.”
While Hall has mastered how to put on a show, Gallo says she has also inspired her students to be not just good singers but good men. In August she will retire after 21 years at the helm of the group. “People say Beyoncé is the queen,” says Gallo, but he and generations of Men’s Chorus singers disagree. “Sister Hall is our queen.”
