Beau Chant Community Choir
Our Mission is to come together to share our love for singing and to make music amongst ourselves and for our audiences.
About the Choir
Beau Chant is an adult community choir based in Faribault, Minnesota with members from the surrounding towns and south Metro area. They are from many walks of life with ages ranging from 24 to 83. The second weekend in December is traditionally their Christmas concert with the Spring concert on the first Sunday in May. Featured soloists have included Twin City vocalists, Robin Joy Helgen and Brock Metzger. A Shattuck-St. Mary’s alum, Zoie Imani Reams soloed with the choir in December 2019. Her professional credits include Wolftrap, Chicago Lyric Opera, Minnesota Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. The choir has also commissioned works with Christopher Aspaas, Deanna Wehrspann, and Kyle Pederson.
Dione Peterson Belling
Our History
Beau Chant was founded in 2013 by Dione Peterson with the assistance of Bill Byrne, Laura Mosset, and Mary Pottratz. The choir has appeared under the direction of Dr. Rene Clausen at Lincoln Center in 2014, Dr. Andre Thomas at the Rome Choral Festival in 2015, and 2017 with Dr. Pearl Shanquan in France. In 2019 they traveled to Washington DC where they sang at the Capitol, Lincoln Center, Jefferson Memorial, the Basilica of Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the Choral Evensong Service at the National Cathedral. They also appeared as a solo choir on the 2017 ACDA-MN Fall Conference.
Our Founder and Director
After 30 years of making music in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota Public Schools, Dione “retired” for the first time and moved back to Minnesota. She soon began working with the Northfield Youth Choir, teaching at St. Olaf College, and eventually Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault. SSM offered exciting opportunities of travel with students and the start of Vocal Performance Program. After nine years she “retired” again but soon missed making music and created Beau Chant.