School Spotlight highlights outstanding Minnesota school- and student-music ensembles during the academic year. Through this feature, Classical MPR hopes to expose listeners to the great music being made by young musicians across the state, and to generate more support for music education.
Because April is "Voices of Spring" choral month at Classical MPR, School Spotlight will feature outstanding choral ensembles. This week, meet the 2013 State 4-5-6 Children's Honor Choir.
7:15 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. — Carolyn Jennings: Jabberwocky
The mission of the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota (ACDA-MN) is to inspire and support a community of choral musicians in our state. ACDA-MN provides this opportunity to students from elementary to college age through various honor and festival choirs at several points in the academic year.
"Annual honor choir experiences enjoyed by close to 750 students in grades 4 to 10, sponsored by ACDA of Minnesota, support the well-documented research that involvement in music stimulates brain activity and nurtures heightened artistic awareness in the development of a child," Says Bruce Becker, ACDA-MN's executive director. The music featured on today's School Spotlight is the product of a full day's worth of rehearsals on Nov. 22, 2013, followed by a concert that evening at Saint Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, Minn.
Out of an applicant pool of 529, 141 students in 4th to 6th grades were selected to learn five songs under the baton of guest conductor Elizabeth Shepley, artistic director of the Northfield Youth Choirs. The program featured music by Minnesota composers, including Northfield native Carolyn Jennings' Jabberwocky, with lyrics from the eponymous poem by Lewis Carroll of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass fame. The conclustion of the performance was marked by a commissioned work by local composer Steven Heitzig called Sing (To Change the World). You can hear it by clicking the audio link above.
Auditions will be held in winter 2015 for the next State Children's Honor Choir event in May 2015. The honor choir opportunities will be expanding to include a 4-5-6 Boys' Honor Choir and 4-5-6 Girls' Honor Choir. Visit www.acda-mn.org in the fall for more information.
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