HHS Choral Concert - Masrch 24 - Features World Premiere

Posted: March 12, 2010

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MEQUON-THIENSVILLE SCHOOLS’

SPRING CHORAL COLLAGE CONCERT

MARCH 24th at 7:00 PM

            A district fine arts alliance of all the choirs from Homestead High School, Lake Shore Middle School, and Steffen Middle School will give their annual free concert on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 7:00 PM in the James Barr Auditorium of Homestead High School. The public is encouraged to come and enjoy an evening full of choral music from many different centuries and traditions – a choral collage! The choirs will combine in many configurations, as well as performing as unique ensembles as they explore music from Haydn, Copland, Shaw, Schumann, Foster, Brahms, Yoon Pin, Mendelssohn, Bernstein, and more, including Homestead student composer Graycen Gardner. [Image]

            Gardner’s piece Invocation will be performed for the first time on stage at the concert, marking the first choral student composition to premiere at Homestead.  Invocation was composed in 2009-2010, making it the most modern piece on the program, and an exciting opportunity for composer and students alike. The composer describes her piece, “Invocation is a plea, an impassioned cry, both desperate and resolved.….. The music rises and falls, an invocation, a plea for solace and release amidst a dark and chaotic world.” Graycie, a senior, is a valued member of Homestead’s most advanced choral and orchestral ensembles. Invocation was composed as part of her project with the Independent Study program at Homestead in the first semester of the 2009-10 school year.  Graycie is also a 13-year member of the Milwaukee Children’s Choir and a seven-year member of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.  She is excited to present her second choral composition world premiere. Her first major composition, Whisper of a Wind, was performed by Present Music and the Milwaukee Children’s Choir when Graycie was 10. 

            The concert finale will feature all MTSD choral students singing an exciting Bebop Jazz piece called Everybody’s Boppin’. Homestead’s Choral Director is Rebecca Renee Winnie, Lake Shore and Steffen’s choirs are directed by John Weber, and the concert accompanist is Michelle Hynson.

            The concert is just one of the district traditions surrounding Music in Our Schools Month, which has a 2010 theme of “Music: Just Imagine.” The Spring Choral Collage concert is free and features a wide spectrum of young performers. Public support for their efforts is very much appreciated. Further information about the choral program in the Mequon-Thiensville Schools is available at [ http://email.mtsd.k12.wi.us/~rwinnie ]http://email.mtsd.k12.wi.us/~rwinnie .

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