The lights dimmed, and the audience applauded as vocal ensemble Voces8 took the stage at Voxman Music Building for their program, “Draw On Sweet Night.” The performance featured the University of Iowa Kantorei, the university’s chamber choir, which performed alongside them on Feb. 28.

Voces8 is an eight-person British vocal ensemble well-known for its acapella performances around the world. Founded in 2005 by Paul and Barnaby Smith, the ensemble recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and was nominated for a Grammy in 2023.

UI Kantorei is a chamber choir that consists of 23 undergraduate and graduate students. Their collaboration with Voces8 was the result of the Larry G. and Ann Howard Jones residency program funded by Ann Howard Jones, a choirmaster who received her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate from the UI. Jones attended the Voxman performance.

Conductor and director of choral studies David Puderbaugh, Ph.D., said Jones had approached the university in 2018 wanting to fund a vocal ensemble residency program. As part of the program, professional singers such as Voces8 are brought in once a year to complete a three-day residency with the School of Music students.

On the last day, they hold a finale concert, which, in the past couple of years, gave the UI Kantorei the opportunity to perform alongside them.

“Our singers get this really amazing opportunity to sing right next to these very famous professional singers in this ensemble,” Puderbaugh said.

Puderbaugh said the collaboration with Voces8 was determined in the fall semester. Voces8 had provided the UI Kantorei with a list of pieces to choose from, and then selected three pieces: “Morning Star” by Arvo Pärt, “and the swallow” by Caroline Shaw, and “Media Vita” by Kerensa Briggs.

Later in the program, UI Kantorei took their place on stage, and the members of Voces8 dispersed among them, except for one: Smith, Voces8’s artistic director and co-founder.

Smith raised his hands to conduct the first piece, and the collaboration began with the higher voices in the group singing the name “Christ,” and the other voices joining in and echoing them with the phrase, “Christ is the morning star.” The now-large ensemble’s voices quickly filled the room with swells of sound.

For the second piece, it was inspired by Psalm 84 as well as the 2011 Syrian refugee crisis, and much like its title, was reminiscent of birds. Each section hummed at different intervals, giving the illusion of birds. Additionally, the ensemble sang text from Psalm 84, referencing the swallow.

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Brynlie Peery, a first-year nursing student with a psychology minor and a member of UI Camerata Singers, had sung this piece as a senior in high school. Peery said she was excited to see it on the setlist because it was one of her favorite songs.

“In this piece, it felt very mature, and the sopranos were insanely good,” Peery said. “They had so much more vocal control than we could get, and I think it was amazing because it really shows [what] way more vocal training can do for a piece.”

Peery was also drawn to the piece “Vincent” by Don McLean, and arranged by Jim Clements. Voces8 performed this piece before they collaborated with UI Kantorei. Peery said it had been difficult to understand the words at first due to the piece’s overlapping nature, but by the end, she understood its meaning, and the emotion made her tear up.

“I hadn’t realized that it was a piece about losing someone until the very end, and I think that was just really incredible to have the beginning draw people in and in the end, show people this is what this is really about,” Peery said.

The third piece in the collaboration, called “Media Vita,” was written by the daughter of David Briggs, an English composer and organist. The piece was reminiscent of an organ, beginning with a low harmony of the words, “media vita.”

The lower sections of bass and baritone had a solo, and as the others joined in, the piece gradually grew louder and louder, filling the room. At the end of the piece, the voices sounded like bells, trailing off into silence.

Kirsten Staker, a second-year UI student double majoring in vocal performance and music education, had been required to attend the lectures, discussions, and events as part of the residency. She is an avid fan of Voces8’s work and has listened to their music for years. This was her first time seeing them perform live.

“I’ve listened to their recordings, seen them on YouTube, but seeing them live was so different, and hearing how they fill the space and seeing how they perform for such a big group, as a small group, was really cool,” Staker said.

Staker was drawn to a song performed by Voces8 that was not listed in the program, “Underneath the Stars” by Kate Rusby, and arranged by Clements.

“I love that song, and I love the meaning of the words and how they sounded,” Staker said. “How they conveyed the meaning and everything was just so cool.”

Puderbaugh hoped the music would inspire the choral students in the audience. He also hoped the audience took away the idea of oneness that music can be beautiful when sung together.

“I hope our general audience kind of sees this amazing music and done in such an amazing way that it’s almost unparalleled in the world, the way these people sing,” Puderbaugh said. “And to experience it live and to see the expression on the singers’ faces and how their bodies react to the music, it’s all part of this idea of putting humanness to music basically.”