The Sharing A New Song Chorus (SANS) was formed in 1983 to foster cultural understanding and citizen diplomacy between the United States and the then-Soviet Union. The chorus was founded by David Clapp, a high school teacher concerned about attitudes toward Russia during the Cold War. Over the years SANS travelled annually to the former Soviet Union to share music and friendship. The project led to high school choral and language exchanges, numerous adult choral group exchanges, several choral director exchanges, a documentary film jointly produced by American and Russian filmmakers, and countless personal ties.

The SANS mission is to celebrate the human spirit through choral music. Reaching across social and political boundaries to other countries, and within the United States, Sharing A New Song promotes intercultural understanding and lasting relationships.

Sharing A New Song began to explore different directions, traveling to China in 1995. The group has since traveled to Estonia, Latvia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Brazil. SANS also made three trips to Cuba, and four to South Africa. 

In the United States SANS visited the Gullah community in South Carolina and the Houma Indian Nation and the Cajun communities in Louisiana. The journeys included singing and service work.

SANS returned to Russia, including Siberia, in June 2010. In Yaroslavl, a city about 200 miles northeast of Moscow SANS participated in a song festival to celebrate that city’s millennium. Some SANS members continued on to Mongolia’s Naadam Festival.

Sharing A New Song will make its fifth trip to South Africa in 2012. The journey to the Cape Town area will end in a combined mass choir performance in Piketberg on August 4. The chorus is eager to return to South Africa, to once again experience the beauty of this land and its people.

Their trip will also include a visit to Goedgedacht (www.goedgedacht.org.za)  and Riebeek Kasteel, where they will be performing in the Dutch Reformed Church together with the Cape Winelands Choir on 31 July 2012. All proceeds will be donated to Goedgedacht.