Music
J. Elwood Roberts / Mars Hill College Choral Festival
| 2012 Festival Documents & Downloads |
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| Cover Letter | ||
| Registration Form | ||
| Festival Schedule | ||
| Health Form | ||
| Zone Rehearsal Schedule | ||
| Guest Director Biography | ||
| Rehearsal Tracks | ||
February 3-4, 2012
The 64th Annual J. Elwood Roberts – Mars Hill College Choral Festival will take place on the college campus February 3-4, 2012. Dr. Sandra Snow of Michigan State University will be the guest director. Approximately 325 auditioned high school singers from 100 schools will participate in the Festival Choir.
The closing concert will be on Saturday, February 4, 2012 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 admission charge for the concert.
During Saturday’s closing concert, Mr. Jim Williams will be honored for 50 years service and commitment to the Mars Hill College Choral Festival. The festival chorus will sing his composition, A Parting Blessing, as a part of this appreciation day. He has provided each of the 350 high school students with an autographed copy of the musical score.
Dr. Sandra Snow holds appointments in conducting and music education at the MSU College of Music. She is a past recipient of the MSU Teacher-Scholar Award and she conducts the Michigan State University Women’s Chamber Ensemble, a group that has appeared at consecutive conferences of the American Choral Directors. She has held a principal residency with the Pacific International Children’s Choir Festival and made guest conducting appearances with the 2009 Texas All-State Mixed Choir, the 2010 Southern Division Honor Children’s Choir, and the New Jersey All-State Women’s Choir. Snow has appeared as a headline clinician at various American Choral Directors Association conferences, and conducted the Music Educators National Chorus (MENC) All-National Honor Mixed Choir at Kennedy Center in June of 2011.
Snow is author of the DVD "Conducting-Teaching: Real World Strategies for Success" published by GIA (2009), a resource for conductor-teachers at all levels of teaching. She edits the choral music series In High Voice published by Boosey & Hawkes and is a member of the Choral Music Experience Choral Teacher Certification Board.
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 over 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 early October. After their selection 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 2012 Festival will be held during the first two weeks of October. 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.