The Light - An Alumni Publication Fall 2014 | Page 24

Harmony

Welcome to the Harmony section of The Light. Each quarter we will profile a member of the YFU Chorale
along with music and pictures. The YFU Chorale provided the engine for YFU’s growth in Europe and
South America from 1958 to 1973.

A History of the YFU Chorale
We all knew and loved Rachel Andresen
America.” There was a gasp of total surprise. She
personally. She and her husband, Arvid, had vision
explained that the US State Department had asked
for the future few possessed. The first Michigan
her to take the choir to South America rather
Youth Chorale went to Germany in 1958. The idea
than to Europe. The State Department felt that our
came from a German student on exchange who was relationships were much better in Europe than in
unfamiliar with the concept of music programs in
South America. Our 1960 Michigan Youth Chorale
schools. She told Dr. Andresen if she brought a choir was the FIRST of any youth exchange from the
to Germany, the connection would be immediate.
United States to go.
I was sitting in my English Lit class in Adrian
The State Department gave Dr. Andresen
High School. A senior had been to Germany as
many contacts. She and Arvid made a trip around
an exchange student during the summer of 1957
the continent in October 1959 to develop those
with YFU. The only thing I recall was that she said
relationships.
she was driving and was stopped by a policeman.
For most of us, the 1960 trip was our first
She told him she did not speak German and he
experience leaving the US, getting a passport,
waved her on. I thought that was really cool. In
riding the new JET passenger airplane, living with
1959, during my junior year, three choir students
other families in other countries, and seeing some of
from Adrian High School went with the Michigan
the most famous cities in the world - many of which
Youth Chorale to Europe. I listened to them all year
were inaccessible to all but