A little more than a decade ago, coming to Calvin meant leaving behind everything Joel Navarro had ever known. Now returning to the region where he grew up to finish out his career, he feels as though he is leaving a part of himself here.

After conducting  for 12 years, Navarro is following God’s call to return to his native Southeast Asia, where he has accepted a position at Singapore Bible College. Sean Ivory will succeed Navarro as the conductor of the Campus Choir, Calvin’s chapel choir, as well as the Oratorio Society, a group of students and alumni that performs Handel’s Messiah each Christmas.

Navarro’s return to Southeast Asia comes following explosive growth in the Southeast Asian church. The growth has led to a high demand for church choir directors in the region. However, there are few people in the area qualified to train the conductors. That’s where Navarro comes in.

“Since I have about six years left before I retire, my presence [at Singapore Bible College] will be to train faculty there to teach new church conductors and train student conductors so they will be equipped to not only conduct church music, but accept secular positions in colleges and universities,” Navarro explained. “In Southeast Asia, most church conductors have little to no pay at all, so they need to have a steady job in addition to church conducting.”

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Twists and turns

This isn’t the first time that God has taken Navarro down an unexpected path. His life has been full of twists and turns.

Growing up in the Philippines, Navarro was always interested in music. By age 11, he had started composing his own songs. And as a teenager, he entered a number of singing competitions. He won many of them, including a nationwide competition. In college, Navarro continued to use his talents to pay his tuition, working as a jingle writer and performer for commercials. He also sang in his university choir.

However, Navarro didn’t intend to become a musician. Instead, he pursued a degree in mathematics and planned to be a math teacher. Navarro had already begun a career teaching math when he accepted an invitation from his college choir director to return to the university as a soloist with his former choir. While he was there, the director encouraged him to leave mathematics and become a choir director.

Although it meant going back to school for another degree, Navarro felt God was calling him to take his old director’s advice. So he went back to his alma mater, the University of the Philippines, and earned his degree in music. He took a job as a choir conductor at the university upon graduation.

Following God's call

When the toured the Philippines, Pearl Shangkuan, the director of the choir and a fellow native of the Philippines, arranged to do a joint concert with Navarro’s choir.

While in the Philippines, Shangkuan told Navarro that one of Calvin’s choir directors planned to retire in a few years. She asked if he was interested in the position.

Navarro was hesitant at first. Taking the job meant moving across the globe, a big commitment. But after praying about the opportunity, he decided to accept the position. Navarro began teaching at Calvin in 2002.

In fall of 2013, Singapore Bible College asked Navarro to make the move back to Southeast Asia; again, Navarro brought the opportunity to God in prayer. And again, he felt God was calling him to pack his bags and take the job. So he accepted it.

A bittersweet move

Although Navarro trusts God and His plan, he is sad to leave Calvin and Grand Rapids.

“It was very hard to communicate to my department chair that I was leaving. I grew to really love this place. I’ve invested so much of my life in the college, and I really love this community. It’s almost like a marriage. So it was very hard to say I would be leaving.”

Navarro will especially miss the students.

“I just love the students,” he said. “Most of the relationships I really developed at Calvin are with my students. I’ve loved speaking to them in class, getting to know them out of class, mentoring them and guiding them.”

A passion for song

His students are sad to see him go as well.

Current Capella member Laura Sterenberg will miss Navarro’s passion for music and the way he uses it to bring people together.

“Dr. Navarro has such a bond with music,” she said. “Every time we performed he would get so into that music, and that made performing all the better for us.

Sterenberg recalled one particularly powerful performance at the Basilica of Saint Adalbert: “[The music] was really beautiful and the sound just hung in the air. I think that’s something that Dr. Navarro loves about music—its ability to bring people together.”

While he hates to leave Calvin behind, Navarro looks forward to seeing how God will use his passion for music to unite people in another part of His kingdom.

“What is encouraging for me is that Calvin is just a sliver of God’s great kingdom. I mean, God’s kingdom is really so large,” he said.

A gifted successor

Navarro also takes comfort in the fact that he is leaving Calvin’s choirs in good hands. He said of his successor: “Sean is one of the most creative and immensely talented people that I know. He brings creativity, giftedness, skill, focus and charm to the job. He’ll have a good rapport with students and offer plenty of wisdom. So I really think he will bring so many gifts to the table. I wish him well.”

While Navarro’s career has spanned the globe, Ivory has deep roots in the Grand Rapids area and is no stranger to Calvin. In fact, Ivory has directed the Campus Choir on and off for a number of years, and, several years ago, he acted as interim director the Oratorio Society.

Ivory is particularly excited to conduct that group again.

“I got to prepare Messiah [when I was interim director], and I loved it,” Ivory said. “But I didn’t get to conduct the performance, so I’m looking forward to being able to do that.”

In addition to his previous work at Calvin, Ivory has been the vocal music instructor at Forest Hills Central High School since 1992. The position was his first job out of college. Over the years, Ivory has also taken on many other roles in the Grand Rapids community, from working for St. Cecilia Music Center to conducting the North American Choral Company. He currently directs the Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus. And when he’s not directing, Ivory composes. He and his frequent writing partner Paul Caldwell have written pieces for the Calvin Women’s Chorale.

Communal spirit

Taking on two choirs at Calvin in addition to his work at Forest Hills Central and the Grand Rapids Symphony means that Ivory’s already full schedule is only to get busier. However, he is looking forward to the challenge because for Ivory, nothing can compare to the communal spirit of a choir.

“I enjoy the kind of community you can create in a choral situation,” he said. “You have people bringing the most intimate part of themselves in a group setting and putting it together with other human beings. I love hearing human voices together raised in song with sort of a unifying purpose. Everybody brings themselves to table and creates something beautiful together.”

Grace Ruiter is an intern in Calvin’s communications and marketing department.