Four chosen for honor choir

Posted on: Jan 7, 2020

Four chosen for honor choir


Four singers from Delano High School were rewarded for their talent and hard work with placement on the American Choral Directors Association-MN 7-8 honor choir earlier this year.

Seventh-graders Jane Poll and Lauren Black, along with eighth-graders Kiersten Koets and Sean Wissbroecker, spent a full day Saturday, Nov. 16, in Mahtomedi rehearsing at the high school before an evening concert at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church. 

“The final result is always the best, when you’re on stage and the music is so pretty with the echoes,” said Poll, who performed as a member of the alto section.

Koets, who sang Soprano 1 along with Black, said the opportunity to see all the parts fall into place for the final show after a long day of working out the details was gratifying.

“I think when you first hear all the music together it’s really amazing because we’re all mixed,” Koets said. “There was this one song, ‘Johnny Said No,’ and it made no sense when you were practicing it because the rhythms were so syncopated, but then you heard it with other people and it all finally made sense and it sounded really good.”

Delano High School Choir Director Eric Conway said the ACDA organizes seven honor choirs each year spanning grades 4-10. About 2,400 singers audition for those choirs on an annual basis, and only about 940, or just under 40 percent, are accepted.

“So to get into this is really, really awesome,” said Conway. “Each 7-8 choir had about 150 kids in it, so to make state in singing is quite the honor.”

Conway added that each of Delano’s singers had earned their way to the select stage.

“They all do a really good job. They work hard and come prepared. It’s what you want in your students,” he said.

Wissbroecker, a tenor, said he enjoyed practicing and preparing for the concert, and the others added that they enjoyed the challenge of performing difficult music.

The directors for the event were Nicole Thietje of New Prague High School and Melanie Kjellberg of Andover High School.
 

Post Categories: High School