On Stage at Home and Abroad: Cole Erickson ’26 Tours Poland with the Davidson College Chorale
April 15, 2025
Erickson and his mom in Zakopane, Poland
With limited experience singing in front of others, Cole Erickson ’26 never expected to find his way into the Davidson College Chorale. He also never expected to find himself at Davidson – he only visited the college for an impromptu tour when his family got stuck in traffic on their drive from Maryland to Myrtle Beach.
During that quick stop, both Erickson and his parents fell in love with Davidson’s campus and the welcoming people they met.
“It's hard to fully comprehend the Davidson experience without being here,” he said.
A gifted writer, Erickson knew he wanted to major in English but wasn’t sure what else he’d do on campus. His first-year roommate offered some help — albeit unsolicited — when he copied Erickson on an email to Chorale Director Renata Berlin, writing, “Here’s a tenor. He wants to audition.”
One of Erickson’s first memorable experiences with the Chorale was singing the national anthem at a home basketball game. Standing on the court in front of the entire community, he started to feel at home among his fellow singers.
In the years since, members of the Chorale have become some of Erickson’s closest friends. When Berlin announced last year that they’d be travelling as a group to sing in Poland over Winter Break, he was ecstatic.
“Not only were we going to Poland, but our parents also had the opportunity to join. My mom loved Davidson from the beginning, so it was wonderful getting to see her experience the Davidson community thousands of miles away.”
On the group’s 10-day tour of Poland, they sang in three different cities — Zakopane, Wroclaw and Kraków — in three different churches. In the snowy, mountain town of Zakopane, the group of 80 singers and their parents had a chance to explore local cuisine, visit a thermal spa and take a sleigh ride in the snow.
Sleigh ride in Zakopane
The chorale performs in Zakopane church.
They sang in a large, modern-style church, and Erickson was surprised by how well the crowd received their performance. One song in particular, O, Ziemio Polska, which translates to O, Polish Land, brought some audience members to tears.
“I’ve never heard an audience clap for so long in the middle of a performance,” Erickson said. “The song is about the pain people have endured, but also how they’ve remained and thrived through that pain. It was a way for us to say ‘we will never understand, but we’re doing our best to honor your language and culture.’”
The Chorale received similar emotional reactions in Wroclaw, where they performed on the balcony of an old, circular church, and in Kraków, where they sang in a medieval, gothic chapel. At the end of the trip, the group spent several days exploring Kraków together, eating Pączki (Polish donuts) and practicing their Polish phrases.
Tour group exploring Wroclaw
Back at Davidson, the Chorale kicked off the spring semester with a homecoming concert at Davidson College Presbyterian Church, bringing a little bit of Eastern European culture back to campus.
“While I’m not spending a semester abroad, I’ve been lucky to experience the Davidson summer program in Cambridge and the Chorale’s trip to Poland,” he said. “These two wonderful and very different opportunities have given me a taste of what Davidson has to offer beyond campus.”
When he isn’t singing, you can find Erickson tutoring at the writing center in the E.H. Little Library or spending late nights in the Libertas office in the Alvarez College Union.
