By: Matthew Orquia
After 20 years of music-making at Southern Adventist University, Gennevieve Brown-Kibble, director of choral activities and a professor in the School of Music, is stepping away from teaching at the university at the end of the school year.
Kibble describes her decision as a “passing of the baton” to Southern’s next choir director. When she informed choir members of her decision, she expanded on the baton metaphor.
“We use that as a breathing technique — the idea of: ‘You pass the baton to the next singer,’” Kibble said. “You don’t just run your lap and stop and wait. There’s this constant overlapping, so you get the momentum, and you build.”
In an email to the Accent, Peter Cooper, dean of the School of Music, described Kibble as a “dear colleague and friend” and reflected on her contributions to the university.
“Dr. Kibble has been a highly valued faculty member of the School of Music for the past 20 years,” Cooper wrote in the email. “She leaves a wonderful legacy of musical and mentoring excellence in Southern’s choral program, and she will be greatly missed by many.”
As for filling the choral director position, Cooper wrote, “There was immediate interest from a good number of applicants and, after reviewing their qualifications for the best fit for our needs, we have invited selected candidates to visit our campus for consideration.
During their interview, they will demonstrate their teaching and rehearsal skills with the choirs and in the classroom,” he continued. “We will complete the interview process over the next few weeks and hope to have a decision by the end of the semester.”
In her position, Kibble directs three vocal groups. When she came to Southern in 2005, the school already had the Die Meistersinger men’s chorus, but there was not a consistent soprano-alto chorus, according to Kibble.
“It’s not that they hadn’t been used in the SATB [soprano, alto, tenor, bass] choirs,” she said, “but they hadn’t had their own thing, and so I was determined that they should have their presence, too.”
That determination ultimately led to the Bel Canto women’s chorus becoming a permanent choral group at Southern. Kibble also directs I Cantori, a traveling chamber ensemble that has toured several countries, and went to Spain last year. The three vocal groups often sing together as a combined choir. In total, 87 students currently participate in all of the different choirs at Southern, according to Kibble.
However, her choirs are not always made up of only students, and Kibble enjoys having Southern staff and alumni sing with her groups when possible.
Kurt Miyashiro, a professor in the School of Music, started singing with the choir after joking with Kibble about wanting to join the group. She surprised him by seriously offering him the opportunity.
“Singing under Dr. Kibble has been one of the most musically and spiritually rewarding experiences,” Miyashiro said. “Her passion to educate her singers into becoming not just a better choir, but better, more thoughtful musicians, is inspiring.”
Along with professors, alumni often ask Kibble if they can sing with the choir when they return to town.
“I love it when they do that,” Kibble said. “They know that there is never a time when they’re not welcome to sing in the choirs.”
On April 6, at the choir’s spring concert, students invited several alumni back to sing with the group in honor of Kibble’s time with Southern.
“During her time here, she has inspired multitudes of students through a variety of classes, organization of Evensong and involvement in ACDA [American Choir Directors Association],” Gam Reyes, senior English major and choir member, said during the concert.
“Her warmth, her inspiration in helping singers, her dedication to her ensembles, her humor and her relationship with Jesus have not only impacted my life in a very significant way but also the singers on stage and many of you in the audience,” Linda Kirby, senior music education major and former choral librarian, said during the program as alumni walked on stage from the audience to join the choir.
Later, in an interview with the Accent, Kirby said she has known Kibble for five years.
“Working with her in Bel Canto and I Cantori has taught me important rehearsal techniques and has exposed me to some of the most beautiful repertoire in the world,” she said. “She beautifully weaves her repertoire choices together and helps the choir know and believe what they sing.”
Miyashiro shared a similar sentiment.
“After hearing and recording her choirs, I was so impressed by how expressively they communicated and conveyed the texts of each piece,” he said. “The careful thought given to each piece was a joy to hear.”
Samuel Vargas, senior music theory and literature major and Die Meistersinger and I Cantori member, said he appreciates how Kibble’s leadership is rooted in faith and ministry.
“That transfers to even when we do secular songs,” Vargas said. “… But you feel it even more when we do spiritual songs.”
“You can tell that she spends time with the Lord, and it translates to everything that happens in the class,” he continued.
Miyashiro said that during rehearsals, Kibble often facilitates discussion of texts that the choir sings.
“The students open up and share such powerful insights into the words — that is a blessing I will always cherish,” he said. “Dr. Kibble does not simply ‘talk’ about Jesus; she reveals His love, His acceptance and welcoming of all and His passion to bless others.”
Kibble said making her decision took many months and was carefully considered to make the transition as smooth as possible for the School of Music and the choirs.
“As a musician, [timing] is kind of important,” she said.
Last semester, the School of Music was being reviewed by the National Association of Schools of Music. The evaluation happens every 10 years for the school to maintain its accreditation. Southern also hosted the Honors Choir Festival, and Kibble did not want her leaving to be a focus during the festival.
“I wanted those things to go by so that it didn’t have to impact anything else,” Kibble said. “That’s how I decided on the timing.”
Another important factor to Kibble was how her departure would affect the students in her choirs. She said most of her students are sophomores due to the large number of freshmen classes in recent years.
“It’s a great time for them to have had a foundation with me, learn some things, hopefully, and then be ready to learn from somebody else,” she said.
Miyashiro reflected on Kibble’s announcement to the choir.
“Dr. Kibble told the choirs that before each of our current faculty members were here, they weren’t here,” Miyashiro said. “Now, it is difficult to think of our School of Music without any one of them. This will be the same for the next person, whom she said will take the choir program even further than she has. That tells you just what kind of person Dr. Kibble is. We will greatly miss her.”
Kibble started at Southern two decades ago through the Honors Choir Festival. In 2005, Southern invited her to direct the festival and then offered her the position of director of choral activities. At the time, Kibble was enjoying her time in a similar position at Pacific Union College, and she was not initially interested in coming to Southern.
“Getting up and going halfway across the country — it’s not something you just do on a whim,” she said. “But after a long process … I finally decided to come this way.”
In addition to her responsibilities at Southern, Kibble is currently finishing her second year as president of the Tennessee Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. She took office as president-elect in 2021, according to a Tennessee ACDA Facebook post.
Kibble said she is especially thankful to be one of very few Black female collegiate-level choral directors.
“The reason I’m so grateful is because until you see somebody who looks like you, you don’t know it’s possible,” Kibble said. “If my legacy was only that some Black and brown students, not just female [students], could say, ‘Oh, I think I could do that, too, because she did,’ that’s enough for me.”
According to Kibble, what she will miss most about directing Southern’s choirs is collaborating with her peers and the students she works with. However, she has no plans to stop singing, directing and making music with others.
Outside of Southern, she has sung with local choirs like the Chattanooga Bach Choir and Choral Arts of Chattanooga, as well as a new select treble choir directed by Jeffrey Dean, a Southern alum, and Lorali Carbajal-Reyna, adjunct voice teacher in the School of Music.
“We’re too busy to sing, but we cannot not sing,” Kibble said. “It’s a hand-picked group, and we’re just having an incredible time.”
Kibble said her plans for where she will be after the school year are not fully determined.
“There’s so much to do, just to finish the school year,” she said. “ … So I really, to be honest, don’t have time to even think about it.”
According to Miyashiro, Kirby, Vargas, and others, Kibble will be missed after her departure. At the same time, they emphasized the importance of welcoming the new choir director.
“[Dr. Kibble] is such a great person, and you can’t imagine the School of Music without her now,” Vargas said. “In no time, I’m sure the new director will be that way as well.”
Kibble said her advice to the next director would be to “do the things that you were trained and called to do.”
“I want them to have the freedom to express their God-given gift in the way that they are gifted,” she said.
