The Homecoming Music Gala, part of the 2026 Goshen College Homecoming activities, is traditionally the first opportunity to hear the Goshen College music ensembles in concert. Performing will be the Goshen College Chamber Choir and Vox Profundi, conducted by Scott Hochstetler, Voices of the Earth, conducted by H. Roz Woll, and the Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mark Douglass.

Organist Rhonda Sider Edgington is a creative and eclectic musician, with a diverse repertoire and wide range of musical interests. Often commended for her innovative programming, imaginative use of registrations, and exciting playing, Rhonda feels equally at home performing on a wide variety of instruments, from small 2 manual, 17th century organs in Germany to large 5 manual organs in the US.

Having spent seven years working and studying in Bremen, Germany (originally with a Fulbright scholarship to study with Prof. Harald Vogel), Rhonda has acquired an extensive repertoire, from Sweelinck and the music of 17th-century Northern Germany, through music of 19th- and 20th-century France, to the music of living composers. She has played recitals at venues across the US, on many notable European-influenced instruments such as the Richards, Fowkes at University of Tennessee/ Knoxville, the Pasi at St Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, the Taylor and Boody at Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton, VA, the Beckerath at St Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh, the Flentrop at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, and the Fritts at Arizona State University. She has also performed on many modern, eclectic instruments such as the Moller at West Point Cadet Chapel in NY, the Skinner at Fourth Presbyterian in Chicago, and the Goulding & Wood at Loyola University, as well as on many historic organs in Germany, such as the Schnitger in Norden, the Silbermann in Freiberg and the Hildebrandt in Naumburg. She has played at seven national conventions of the Organ Historical Society and three regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists. She has also been heard on the nationally syndicated radio program “Pipedreams”.

Before arriving in Bremen with a Fulbright scholarship in 2004, Rhonda was organist at the First United Church of Oak Park. The 88-rank Casavant there, especially well-suited to French repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, inspired her to focus those years on composers from Franck through Messiaen and record a CD of those works. (After hearing Rhonda play Dupré, one Parisian organist remarked “You don’t sound like a student of Harald Vogel!”)

An avid chamber musician, Rhonda has appeared in concerts playing piano, harpsichord, and organ in combinations ranging from piano trios and Lieder accompaniments, to organ and brass or organ and strings, and also as an early music continuo player with soloists and ensembles. She appears as solo organist and continuo player on two CD’s of early Christmas music with the Weser-Renaissance Ensemble, Bremen.

As a carillonneur, Rhonda was heard weekly at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Carillon, has played concerts in Chicago’s Botantical Gardens, and on the Naperville Millenium Carillon, and was heard at the national conventions of the Guild of Carillonneurs of American and Organ Historical Society.

In addition to solo recitals, teaching, church work, and chamber music, another of Edgington’s passions is dreaming up creative collaborative projects. In 2013, she performed concerts with the NYC-based trombone quartet Guidonian Hand, including their own arrangement of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D-minor for organ and trombone quartet. In 2014, she performed the complete Les Corps Glorieux of Messiaen at St. Augustine Cathedral in Kalamazoo with members of the Farrell Ballet Theatre performing an original work. 2015 brought the premiere of friend and colleague Steve Jenkin’s Sonata for Marimba and Organ in Holland, MI with David Hall, assistant principal percussionist with the Grand Rapids Symphony. In 2017, she performed a concert with calligrapher Tim Botts, creating original artwork inspired by live organ music. In the same year, she also performed the first of their “Battle of the organs”, with Hammond B3 master Tony Monaco, playing jazz-influenced classical music in contrast to his jazz standards. In 2018, she created a concert around the theme War and Peace, to perform in Germany, celebrating the centennial of the Armistice of WWI, which she also performed at West Point in NY. 2019-20 brought two big projects – a collaborating with Urban Garden Performing Arts to create a performance with dancers and actors around the book of Revelations for a local congregation (using Langlais’ Cinq Meditations sur l’Apocalypse), supported by a grant from the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship. She also partnered with world musicians for a series of concerts throughout Michigan for organ and percussion – Music of Japan. Years in the making, this project was supported by an AGO grant to commission a new piece by American composer Carson Cooman for organ, marimba, and Taiko drummers. It also featured the American premiere of the large-scale work for organ and Taiko drum, Fujin Raijin by Takihude Niimi .  In 2021 she recorded a CD of Music of Today for Organ and Trumpet, with Dr. Brian Reichenbach, and their Great Lakes Duo performs regular tours each year.

Rhonda has worked as church musician since her student days, and has also served in a wide variety of denominations in the US, as well as worked as organist and choir director in two German churches. As organ teacher, Rhonda worked as Assistant Professor at Concordia University, River Forest, and Interim Professor of Organ at Houghton College, in New York state. Her studies have been, in Bremen with Harald Vogel, Hans-Ola Ericson, and Hans Davidsson, and in the States with Larry Smith, Marilyn Keiser, John Chappell Stowe, Edward Zimmerman, and her father.

An avid supporter of the American Guild of Organists, Rhonda was dean of the student chapter while doing her masters at Indiana University, and later on the Chicago AGO board, as well as working with the 2006 National Convention Planning Committee.  She was dean of the Holland, MI AGO chapter from 2012 to 2021, and has also served on regional nominating committees for the AGO.  She also planned and co-lead an educational tour for the European AGO of organs of Northern Germany.

After living in Bremen, Germany for seven years, she moved with her husband Mark, and children Isaac and Esther to Holland, Michigan.  There Rhonda is Music Director and Organist at Hope Church (Reformed Church of America) and Organ Instructor at Calvin University in Grand Rapids.  She worked as a staff accompanist at Hope College for 9 years, was accompanist for the Holland Chorale, and has accompanied students and professionals around the region.   She performs concerts regularly in the US and Europe.  When not making music, she enjoys riding her bike, reading and writing, eating fresh produce from the Holland Farmer’s Market, and writing a monthly column for the Holland Sentinel about music.

Vox Profundi, Goshen College’s low voice ensemble conducted by Scott Hochstetler, will be joined by area high school low voice choirs for a day of workshops and rehearsals, culminating in an evening choir concert in Sauder Concert Hall.

In addition to Vox Profundi, the concert will feature the Open Fifths, and high school ensembles from Goshen, Elkhart, Logansport, and Manchester High Schools.

Trio Caspar is the first group to be named as the Colburn Conservatory’s inaugural Honors Chamber Music Ensemble, and mentored by Colburn faculty members Jonathan Brown (Cuarteto Casals), Yehuda Gilad, Fabio Bidini, and Martin Beaver (Tokyo String Quartet). Trio Caspar was awarded the Gold Medal, Lift Every Voice Prize and Horszowski Trio Prize for Piano Ensemble at the 2026 Fischoff Competition in the Senior String Division, as well as the Audience Award and 2nd Prize at the 2026 Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition.

The ensemble is an innovative union of three individual voices. Founded in 2024 by clarinetist Andrea Caputo, violinist Jason Moon, and pianist Bogang Hwang, Trio Caspar aims to bring a fresh perspective of the highest standard to chamber works that are less frequently performed. The name pays homage to the German painter Caspar David Friedrich, whose exploration of the complexity of individualism inspires the trio’s distinctive sound. 2025-26 season highlights include a debut recital at the Colburn Conservatory and a performance of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time alongside cellist Gary Hoffman.

Trio Caspar has just recorded their debut album featuring works of Igor Stravinsky, Paul Schoenfeld, Libby Larsen and Robert Schumann, which will be released on the Delos recording label in the 2026-27 season.

Mary Catherine Levri is an associate professor of organ and church music in the Sacred Music program at the University of Notre Dame, where she has been on faculty since July 2027. She served as the director of music at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati from 2016-2025.

Dr. Levri has published a number of essays and articles on Catholic sacred music in the Humanum Review, the Adoremus Bulletin, and the Communio International Catholic Review. She served as the President of the Society for Catholic Liturgy from 2022-2024, and has worked as a musician in Catholic churches in Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Organ prelude begins at 7:15 pm.

The Maple City Community Orchestra, directed by Victoria Petrak, will perform in Sauder Concert Hall. Admission is free; donations are accepted at the door.

Fernando Ortega is a Dove Award winning singer, pianist, songwriter, arranger and storyteller. Trained as a classical pianist and inspired by the Presbyterian hymns of his childhood, Ortega has been influential in expanding the range of Christian music. He has devoted considerable attention to creating arrangements of early church music and hymns, infusing them with instrumental and vocal character drawn from classical, folk and world music. His songs and writing often conjure the expansive landscape of the Southwestern United States.

Ortega makes his home in New Mexico, where his ancestors first settled in the early 1600s. Over a rich and varied musical career, he has released 22records and a book of his bird photography and tales, has traveled around the world as a touring artist, and has received many accolades and awards for his music.

Grammy-nominated Mariachi Los Camperos’ abundant accolades and performances on premier concert stages can easily obscure the fact that its leaders come from humble roots deep within a mariachi tradition. The group’s founder, Nati Cano, forged his own mariachi group in 1961 from his artistic vision and determination. Until his death in 2014, he challenged the attitudes that led formally trained musical peers to look down on his beloved rural and working-class music. In the words of Jesús “Chuy” Guzmán, his disciple and successor as Camperos leader, “He wanted to have a mariachi that would have dignity, that would have heart, that would have soul, and he made Los Camperos.”

Los numerosos galardones y las actuaciones en escenarios de prestigio del grupo Mariachi Los Camperos —nominado al Grammy— pueden eclipsar fácilmente el hecho de que sus líderes provienen de orígenes humildes, profundamente arraigados en la tradición del mariachi. El fundador del grupo, Nati Cano, creó su propia agrupación en 1961 impulsado por su visión artística y su determinación. Hasta su fallecimiento en 2014, desafió las actitudes de aquellos colegas músicos de formación académica que menospreciaban su querida música, propia del ámbito rural y de la clase trabajadora. En palabras de Jesús “Chuy” Guzmán, su discípulo y sucesor al frente de Los Camperos: “Él quería tener un mariachi que tuviera dignidad, que tuviera corazón, que tuviera alma; y así creó Los Camperos.”

The Goshen College Choirs will present their first concert of the academic year in Sauder Concert Hall. Performing are the Goshen College Chamber Choir and Vox Profundi, directed by Scott Hochstetler, and Voices of the Earth, directed by H. Roz Woll.