Nazareth Students Sing Their Way into PMEA Chorus Festivals

Intermediate SongFest

Several musically inclined Nazareth Area Middle School students participated in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Intermediate SongFest, a chorus festival held Feb. 2 at Parkland High School.

Clair Neamand, the former choral director of Parkland's Springhouse Junior High School, served as the guest conductor.

Kudos to Caroline Burgoyne, Sara Marth, Izzy Dara, Maddy Shuler, Nick Marth, Bailey Carpenter, Andrew Fry, Brock Redman, Jack Doyle, Shane Hurley, Logan Szabo and Arielle Marcum.

District 10 Chorus Festival

Six students from Nazareth Area High School were accepted into the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 10 Chorus Festival, including Clarissa Hoke, Mikaela Esposito, Theo Patton, Emma Parrish, McKenzie Doyle and Hannah Stevens.

These students auditioned in October and traveled to Berks Catholic High School in Reading to participate in the festival from Feb. 7-9.

While there, they worked under the direction of Dr. Russ Shelley of Juniata College and presented two concerts to the public.

Region V Chorus Festival

Last but certainly not least, three Nazareth High students successfully auditioned for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Region V Chorus.

Mikaela Esposito, Emma Parrish and McKenzie Doyle will participate in the festival held March 21-23 at Hamburg High School. The concerts will take place Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.

The students will be working under the direction of Dr. William Cutter.

In addition to participating at Regions, the students will audition for the All-State Choir, which will feature the top six singers in each voice part.

The State Chorus Festival will run in conjunction with the PMEA Annual Music In-Service Conference at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie. The in-service conference will be held April 17-20.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, visit www.pmea.net.

Editor's Note: This information was provided by Nazareth Area School District.