Lima, OH (WLIO) - Ohio State's Columbus campus sent their Men's and Women's Glee Clubs to Lima to perform alongside local high school students.
The musicians came to the Lima branch campus as part of Ohio State's Opus 88 Initiative, which aims to send an ensemble to all 88 counties in Ohio, in an effort to bring the arts to other communities. Students from Shawnee, Spencerville, Wapakoneta, Ottawa-Glandorf, and New Bremen high schools were invited to take the stage with their collegiate peers. Students were excited by both the challenges presented by this performance, and the chance to see such advanced musicians in action.
"It's taught me to listen and you have to sight read music a lot more for what I'm doing because I'm not familiar with the music as much, so it's a challenge," said Wyatt Nielsen, a senior from Spencerville High School.
I think the biggest difference for me is not only the number of guys I'm performing with, but their skill level. I've never performed with people who have such dedication and such high level of skill with what their craft is, so it's just been a really cool experience," Wapakoneta High School junior, Nathan Wiseman, said about singing with OSU students.
The conductor of the Ohio State Men's Glee Club, Robert Ward, hopes the audience not only enjoyed themselves but can also appreciate the quality of OSU students.
"55 minutes of entertainment, realizing the 168 students that are going to sing tonight represent all that is good and right about Ohio State University and when people my age look at them, they think, you know, our future is probably secure," he said.
The Ohio State Men's Glee Club is the oldest student organization at Ohio State University, founded in 1875. The Women's Glee Club was established not long after, in 1903.
