05/23/2026
It’s time for a re-cap of the school year. It was a good year full of individual successes, great music , and outstanding performances.
The fall semester focused on auditions for the MTVA Freshman and MidState Honor Choirs, the Tennessee All State choirs, the Southern Division ACDA Honor Choirs, and preparing for Christmas. Several students were chosen for the MidState and Freshman Honor Choirs, and Maxine Burton was chosen for the All State Choir and the ACDA Choir.
At Christmas we performed for several community groups and sang two times at the Mayor’s Office. One of those performances was for the tree-lighting ceremony. The Concert Choir joined us for one of the performances at the Mayor’s Office. Hawkins MS choir, Chris Carrick, conductor, joined us for our Christmas performance at HHS.
Several of our students auditioned and were selected for the SCS Honor Choir in February. Fifteen singers from the Chamber Choir and four singers from the Concert Choir spent a day rehearsing and performed a concert at the end of the day.
Our Andrew Lloyd Webber concert was a collaboration with our Concert Choir and the HHS Orchestra, Sara Koly, conductor. This performance gave every singer in the Chamber Choir an opportunity to sing a solo or duet. Many of the singers had never done anything like this before, but they rose to the challenge and did well. The concert was a huge success, and was very well-received.
In March, Maxine Burton, her parents, and I traveled to Memphis for the ACDA Convention and Honor Choir concert. In April, we spent a few days at the Opryland Hotel for the Tennessee All State Convention. I also did a presentation at this convention.
May was a very busy month! The Chamber Choir performed a challenging cantata, Beati omnes qui timent, by British composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695). This is a wedding text probably composed for Purcell’s own marriage ceremony. It’s challenging musically, and the Latin is unfamiliar and somewhat difficult.
Also in May the Chamber Choir, the Vocal Jazz Ensemble and eight soloists sang at the MTVA Solo and Ensemble competition. Both ensembles received a Superior rating, and all the soloists received a Superior or an Excellent rating.
For the fourth year in a row, the Vocal Jazz Ensemble performed at JazzFest. Dr. Rich Ripani, founder of JazzFest and the Nashville Youth Jazz Ensemble, told me this was the best group we’ve ever had.
We were also honored this year to perform the National Anthem before a SCS Board meeting. Thanks to Board member Tammy Hayes for the invitation. We also sang the National Anthem at the Homecoming football game and several pep rallies this year.
Several people have asked why the Chamber Choir at HHS is smaller than in the past. Here’s the reason. When I started at HHS in 2021, there were choral programs at both of our feeder middle schools, Hawkins MS and Ellis MS. At the end of the 2023-24 school year the choral program at Ellis was eliminated. The Chamber Choir had thirty singers during that school year. Since then our numbers have fallen to twenty-five in 2024-25 and to seventeen during 2025-26. This is probably the new normal. If the Ellis program is restored, it will be several years before we see the results at HHS.
The good news is that the singers we have are talented and dedicated. They work hard and want to do well. We will have sixteen in the Chamber Choir this fall and I am already making plans, looking for music, and getting excited about the 2026-27 school year. I am planning another collaboration concert with the orchestra and hope to have something determined by the end of the summer. This will be a Biltmore year, and we are already making plans for that. Our performance will be in the evening on November 3rd. I hope many of our followers will be able to join us in Asheville. I suggest getting tour tickets early as they always sell out quickly.
Thanks to everyone who supports our program and attends our performances. I’ll post concert dates in a few days. Please tell your friends and relatives about the work we are doing and ask them to join our team.
Have a great summer!
