Nashville's Christian schools gather for Christian High School Choral Festival
Janel Shoun-Smith |
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| The Lipscomb Academy Chorus will participate in the Christian High School Choral Festival this month. |
The Lipscomb University Department of Music will host the 38th annual Christian High School Choral Festival on Sunday and Monday, Nov. 11-12, with a free, public concert featuring 250 local high school performers at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12.
Nashville students from Ezell Harding Christian School, Lipscomb Academy and Nashville Christian School, as well as students from three Christian schools in Georgia and Alabama, will gather on Sunday and Monday to rehearse and polish the five choral works chosen for this year’s festival.
Dr. Gary P. Wilson, Lipscomb’s director of choruses, coordinates the annual event and selected the works to be performed at the public concert in Collins Alumni Auditorium on campus. The combined choruses will perform: “Sanctus,” a 20th century setting of the “Holy, Holy, Holy” text by Zdenek Lukas; “Noel,” an African spiritual with percussion arranged by Brad Holmes; “In This Land,” a spiritual arranged by Wayland Rogers; “I Have Longed for Thy Saving Health,” a Renaissance motet by William Byrd; and “Wake Ev’ry Breath,” an American fuguing tune by William Billings.
In addition to the combined chorus, each student choir has the option to perform two pieces on its own at the finale concert. The performing choirs will vary in size and the type of music they specialize in. Each group will bring something unique to the performance and will be able to teach as well as learn from each other, Wilson said.
“This is an opportunity for high school students from smaller schools to be a part of a larger choir, and it gives students from a larger choir a chance to mentor and learn from the other students,” said Wilson.