Daniel Craig said this was a building year.

The Associate Professor of Music and Music Program Director explained how he started the year with individuals who had never sung in a choir in their lifetime. Craig bragged that they now all sound like professionals.

After the international win in Ireland, the new group returned for the fall concert Saturday and Sunday.

The set started with sacred tunes and transitioned into a story of love, lust and loss with songs “I Love My Love” by Gustav Holst, “Si Ch’io Verrei Morire” by Claudio Monteverdi and “And So It Goes” arranged by Bob Chilcott.

“We started to build in the text references to the beauty of the earth,” Craig said. “We then put you outdoors at night looking at the stars, and then we do a grace before going to sleep.”

The set concluded with a wake up of unclouded day and sent the audience home, finishing with the University of Southern Indiana Alma Mater. The tunes filled the Grand Reading Room with booming acoustics and an intense warmth.

Abigail Suddarth, senior and marketing major, said each year the different groups have their own unique characteristics.

“This group is more prepared,” the seventh-semester choir member said.”They have more of a can-do attitude, they are ready to be here, ready to make music and they want to work.”

Craig and Suddarth are excited to see what the group has to offer in the university’s 49th Madrigal Feast Dec. 1-2 and their performance next semester with the New York Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie Hall.

Auditions for next semester will be held next week for those interested in being a part of the musical journey.

“In the spring, this group has yet another challenge,” Craig said. “We are going to learn Requiem Mass, a mass for the dead.”