Music
J. Elwood Roberts / Mars Hill College Choral Festival
February 7-8, 2014
The 65th Annual J. Elwood Roberts—Mars Hill College Choral Festival held on the campus Feb. 1-2, 2013 was a resounding success with Dr. Rollo Dilworth as guest conductor. “The Gift To Be Free” by Dr. Dilworth and commisssioned for the festival was premiered at the closing concert.
Plans are well underway for the 66th Festival to be held on February 7-8, 2014. Dr. Christopher Aspaas of St. Olaf College will be the guest director. Approximately 330 auditioned high school singers from more than 100 high schools will participate in the Festival Choir.
The closing concert will be on Saturday, February 8, 2014 beginning at 4:00. The College Choir and Chamber Singers will open the concert followed by a combined number with the college groups and the Festival Choir participating. The concert will close with the Festival Choir. There is no charge for admission.
The J. Elwood Roberts – Mars Hill College CHORAL FESTIVAL was established in 1949 by the late J. Elwood Roberts as an effort to improve choral music in the high schools of western North Carolina. While in the beginning the “clinic” was comprised of about fifteen schools in the closely-surrounding area, this annual event has grown into one of the premiere choral festivals in North Carolina and, as far as is known, is the longest, continuously-running festival of its type in the southeast and is unique for a private college in the US. Each year more than 700 students from approximately 100 high schools audition for the Festival Choir.
In the early years students were selected by their directors to sing in the choral clinic. Quite often, a double quartet from each high school would participate. As the event continued to grow, reaching a size of 400 non-auditioned singers, it was decided that a better format would be to reduce the size to approximately 325 voices and have the singers audition at selected high school sites. This practice was put into effect for the clinic of 1970. Auditions are held at various sites in October. After being selected, the singers prepare the music and attend one of seven zone rehearsals held in January. With the help of high school zone coordinators this practice has proven very effective.
Guest conductors have included some of the most prominent choral musicians in the United States. Auditions for the 2014 Festival will be held during the third week of October. To request an audition or for more information email: choralfestival@mhc.edu.
J. Elwood Roberts came to Mars Hill College in 1944. He served the music department in several capacities, most notably as an instructor in music theory. He also directed the choir at Mars Hill Baptist Church. Mr. Roberts died in 1966 at the age of 52.