Attachments

The Ely High School Choir. Several choir members also qualified for the state choir competition later this month.

The high school choirs from Ely, Tower-Soudan and Babbitt-Embarrass are combining for a special choir concert on Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Babbitt-Embarrass School Auditorium.

“These kids are amazing,” said music program volunteer Billie Rouse. “These kids deserve to be noticed.”

The performance will include individual performances by each school’s choir of the pieces they performed at the choir competition, along with a combined choir concert that will be directed by University of Wisconsin-Superior, Choral Professor Dr. Matt Faerber. The three choirs include many talented singers. Each choir is sending singers to the state choir competition this year, and the Babbitt Choir as a whole also is competing at state.

The choirs have also been individually practicing two pieces that will be performed by the entire group with Prof. Faerber.

Faerber, Directorof Choral Activities and Professor of Vocal Music at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, received advanced degrees in choral conducting from the University of Iowa, where he studied with William Hatcher, and Brigham Young University, where he studied with Ronald Staheli and Mack Wilberg. Dr. Faerber is chorus master of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. In addition to conducting and teaching, Dr. Faerber is active as a pianist, clinician, and choral arranger.

“This is about giving our students the opportunity to sing in a large group,” Rouse said. She noted that some of the choirs do not have a lot of male singers. By combining the choirs, there will be enough male voices to fill out the section, without having to rely on girls.

The choir directors chose to site the concert in Babbitt because of the auditorium’s superior acoustics.

Rouse is hoping for a great turnout for this special concert.

“Nobody thinks twice about traveling for a sports game,” said Rouse.

The combined concert will give these students from small schools the opportunity to see what it is like to sing in a large choir.

“Singing is something that these kids will do all their lives,” she said.

The choirs will spend the entire day together on April 21. In the morning, they will work in small groups in workshop settings. In the afternoon, they will work under the direction of Faerber, as they rehearse for the first time as a large group.

The public performance is at 7 p.m. The public is cordially invited to attend. There will be a freewill offering for admission, with funds raised to be used for future choir programming.