By Dietrich Gvzmann-Sivilotti Online Editor November 9, 2016
DeLand High's Concert Choir was recently honored to perform with some of the most skilled and prestigious academy, university and professional choirs and directors in the state. This past Friday, the DeLand High School Concert Choir had an excellent performance at the FloridaAmerican Choral Directors Association 2017 conference, a state meeting of a national organization comprised of high school, college, church and professional choral directors and choral composers. DeLand High auditioned for a chance to perform at the event and was subsequently invited after a successful performance. In addition, they had to maintain a consistent performance at state MPAs for the last three years. They prepared by having sessions, rehearsals and workshops with various choral directors and composers from nearby Stetson University, namely Dr. Tim Peter, Dr. Andrew Larson, Dr. James Brown and Dr. Damon Dandridge. These finemen helped them learn six songs in three languages, from three time periods, as well as two poems from poets Thomas Hardy and Sara Teasdale. They were also able to share the stage with the University of North Florida, Florida Atlantic University, The Master Singers of South Florida and Dr. Phillips Performing School of Arts, another high school. All of these groups are very prestigious, making it an honor for the DeLand High Chorus to perform with them. The Concert Choir is made up of 60 singers grades 10-12, who auditioned from a group of over 250 chorus students. They are directed by Melinda Fradley, who has been working with DeLand High for ten years now, and manages all six choirs and both ensembles. Fradley has said that she'd love to have the choir go on to the Southeastern regional ACDA conference and eventually the highly exclusive national conference, but would prefer to wait a year to get more practice and preparation in before going for such a stellar goal. This isn't even the first time DeLand's choir has gone to a major event: Chorus has performed for the Ciudad De Angeles orphanage in a collaboration with Ross Cawthon, at the African American Museum of Arts, at Carnegie Hall in New York with Andre Thomas and has even performed for President Sirleaf of Liberia in 2016! As for the students, they put in a lot of time and effort to perform at the best they possibly can and enjoy working together even through their hardest trials. Sophomore Cayman Forbes said that "Choir is such a big part of my life, it's my passion and I look forward to making beautiful music with very talented people every day. We are a family, we have inside jokes and a lot of fun, even during stressful times." Some other major upcoming events for the Choir are the Disney Candlelight Processional this December 24th and the Southern Star Music Festival in Atlanta, Ga.