Umeri Choir to Perform Final 2025-2026 Season Concert at Drake University

Umeri, the Drake University Alumni Choir, will perform its final concert of the 2025-2026 season on April 12, 2026. The performance, titled Loves Me, Loves Me Not, is scheduled for 6 p.m. At Sheslow Auditorium on the Drake campus in Des Moines, Iowa.

The program features Johannes Brahms’ Liebeslieder (Love Song) Waltzes, which consists of more than a dozen short pieces centered on the theme of love. These works will be paired with additional compositions spanning from the Renaissance to the 21st Century, written by various American and British composers.

The musical selections are described as having a wide variety of styles and sounds, ranging from edgy to lushly romantic, and including a piece written in a hoe-down style.

Thematic Focus and Direction

The concert is designed to explore different dimensions of love, including parental, neighborly, and romantic forms, as well as the concepts of challenge and discovery.

This concert invites audiences to engage emotionally and intellectually with many forms of love—romantic, parental, neighborly—as well as the spirit of discovery and challenge. All this is expressed through music of striking variety and sonic beauty.

Aimee Beckmann-Collier, Umeri founder and conductor

Featured Performers

The Liebeslieder Waltzes are scored for choir and piano four-hands accompaniment. This portion of the program will be played by Susan Ihnen and Ling-Yu Hsiao.

The performance will also feature a violin soloist for a piece titled Love Is, which is intended to summarize the core themes of the concert. The soloist will be Dr. Jonathan Sturm, who serves as the concertmaster of the Des Moines Symphony.

The ensemble is led by Dr. Aimee Beckmann-Collier, who is the Director Emerita of Choral Studies and the Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor Emerita of Conducting.

Admission and Logistics

There is no admission charge for the event on April 12, 2026. The organizers will accept free will donations from the audience.

The event is scheduled to run from 6 p.m. To 7 p.m. Interested parties can RSVP via the official Umeri website.

Ensemble Background and Season History

Umeri was founded in 2019 by Dr. Aimee Beckmann-Collier as a choir specifically for Drake University alumni.

The 2025-2026 season began on October 5, 2025, with a first concert titled Into One Song. This was followed by a performance on October 12, 2025, titled Wanting Memories, which took place at Sheslow Auditorium and featured Umeri alongside an alumni reunion choir of more than 100 singers.