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Community Corner

NHS Choirs Triumph with Skill and Versatility

 

Superior.  Superior.  Superior.  Superior.  Four Northville High School vocal ensembles earned top honors at the March 22 State Solo and Ensemble Festival of the Michigan School Vocal Music Association.  BackBeat (nine-voice guy group), TrebleMakers (ten-voice women’s ensemble), Freshman Select (16 ninth grade singers) and Chamber Choir (20-voice mixed ensemble) qualified earlier this year to compete in this prestigious, storied state competition.   Additionally, Chorale (72 advanced singers) and Chamber Choir earned superior ratings at the District Choral Festival, also held in March.  Even with the school’s long history of vocal music excellence, this dominant clean sweep is noteworthy.  It is also a rare occurrence for any Michigan high school to have this many superior ensembles in one season.

TrebleMakers and Chamber Choir were named the top Michigan ensembles at the State Solo and Ensemble Festival which put them in consideration to perform at the Michigan Youth Arts Festival (MYAF).  Slated for early May at Western Michigan University, exceptional student artists are chosen to participate in a three-day celebration of the arts.  Less than one percent of student applicants are selected.  Mary Kay Pryce, an NHS choir director, proudly notes that “NHS has been selected for MYAF honors several times in previous years.  It is a recent first for both choirs currently under consideration. This is, indeed, an honor as they would be placed among the top 12 vocal ensembles in the state.  We’re so proud to have gotten this far.”  

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"We owe a great deal of our success with the choirs to the generous support of parents and community, the talent and work ethic of the students, and a focus on a performance-based curriculum,” reflects Mark Krempski, also an NHS choir director.  “Colleges and universities are always recruiting our students to be in their choral ensembles because they know our singers are literate and sophisticated musicians when they graduate."

In a distinctively different honor, NHS choirs will sing the national anthem at Comerica Park when the Detroit Tigers face the Cleveland Indians.  Tiger fans will become Mustang fans on the evening of April 16 when NHS choirs lead the crowd in song. 

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“Plan ahead to see all of our singers at our spring concerts,” reminds Pryce.   All student singers will present a wide variety of styles as they wrap up another stellar year of performance excellence and achievement.  Fellow NHS choir director Beth Richert will join Pryce and Krempski for two vibrant concerts at 7 p.m. on May 14 and 15 in the NHS auditorium.  To purchase $7 tickets:  prycema@northvilleschools.org

 

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