When the Carroll Festival Chorus, led by Music Department Professor Margaret Boudreaux, touched down in Newfoundland for the prestigious Festival 500, they didn't know what to expect.

Still, they didn't plan to stay in a fourth-floor dormitory with no elevator for their singers, some of whom are more than 80 years old. "The conditions were very hard," explains Boudreaux, "but everybody decided to have a sense of humor."

The choir, organized by Boudreaux and Student Affairs Vice President Philip Sayre, combined voices from the College Choir - including Alexander Meyer-Stokes '08, alumni Lisa Moore '05, Chava Roth '05 and James Reddan '99, and members of the Masterworks Chorale of Carroll County - among them College Historian and Emeritus Mathematics Professor James Lightner '59.

Only 35 choirs around the world are selected to participate in the biannual international festival at Memorial University , and Boudreaux admits they were a little intimidated by the talent.

"I had to do a lot of psyching up, but the confidence was there."

Boudreaux holds out a thick guide to the week-long event that focused on Venezuelan music. The glossy schedule is neatly organized and laid out.

But things changed on Thursday, July 7.

The Carroll Festival Chorus were scheduled to perform in the main venue. Yet, only hours earlier, four men detonated bombs in the London transit system, killing more than 50 people.

That night, the Carroll Festival Chorus sang with their hearts, "Drummer Hodge," a song written by faculty member Garth Baxter, based on a poem about a boy who dies in a far off war. The song, infused with new meaning, was dedicated to men and women serving overseas. They also performed, "With the Lark," written by Professor of Music Glenn Caldwell.

The combined choir echoed the sentiment on the final evening of the Festival 500, as they performed "Credo," an Estonian song about fighting hatred. The 2,000 voices raised in song spoke many different languages but one message of compassion for the victims of the London bombings and solidarity for the families, survivors, and the world community.