Life is a Cabaret!

As I write this, we've been making preparations for the annual Cabaret Night showcasing solo, duet, and small group vocals.  This comes off the heels of a very successful combined choral concert on Tuesday night -- a standing-room-only audience!  Each group did so well...it was a fantastic showcase of our program from grades 4-12.  Mrs. Pritchard, aka "Mama Pritchard," our favorite accompanist wrote some wonderful comments to us afterward from her perspective on stage and from those who talked to her at the end of the concert.  She also shared with me that she has a new middle school voice student who said the reason she wants to study voice is so that she can be good enough to be in the high school choir because "they were awesome on Tuesday!"  Couldn't have gotten a higher form of praise...congrats!

We're building excitement for the trip to Disney next month.  We'll begin a few new pieces in class next week that will be part of our set list for the Friday afternoon performance at Epcot.  Cast members of 42nd Street are working hard as we open on April 3.  Lots of tapping!

The main reason I wanted to write is to share a little about what we're planning for NEXT school year.  Yes, we're already picking out dates for next year!  But there are some exciting things in the works.  Here are a few of them:

1. In October, we'll partner up with the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, McKeesport High School Choir, and another area school (yet to be confirmed) for their choir festival at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.  The PCC's director, Dr. Susan Medley, will come in and work with us on 4 movements from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, which the NHHS Choir has performed in the past with the NHHS Wind Ensemble under the direction of Mr. Matthews and Miss Valliant twice over the last 15 years.
   
2. Earlier that same week, we'll be guests on the Wind Symphony's concert, performing the same 4 movements with full instrumental accompaniment.  We had a chance to work with the strings for our December concert this year on the Messiah movements.  I'm looking forward to joining with the wind players this time!
3. It's been probably 5 years since the last time the Symphonic Choir has joined with the River City Brass Band on one of their holiday concerts, and we're going to do it again this December at Carson Middle School!  Mark your calendars for Friday, December 5, 2014.  It's sure to be an amazing concert.
4. We'll continue our 2 annual fundraising events: Madrigal Dinner on December 13 and Cabaret Night on February 13.  We're going to add a new event to the calendar in April - a chamber choir invitational.  Our North Hills Singers participated in 2 of them in the past, at Pine-Richland and Fox Chapel.  Now we'll play host to 2 or 3 area high school chamber choirs, possibly to a guest university choir, and potentially 2 judges for non-competitive scoring and feedback.
5. Since we are taking such a big trip this year, we'll scale back next year and do a one-day-up-and-back trip on (tentatively) Saturday, May 9, 2015 to Hershey Park for the Music in the Parks festival.  We did a very similar trip to Cedar Point 2 years ago.  We'll leave the school bright and early (like 6:00am), perform probably around noon, spend 5 or 6 hours at Hershey Park, go to the awards ceremony, and drive home with arrival at the school around midnight.  A whirlwind day, but lots of fun and always a great way to get feedback from professional musicians who evaluate our performances.

So, while it may not be a trip to Disney next year, there are a lot of great things for the members of our high school choirs to enjoy.  Make sure to register for choir (9-10 girls should choose Women's Choir, 11-12 girls and 9-12 boys should select Symphonic Choir).  See you in class!