Fall Choral Fest Features 13 High Schools

About 450 high school singers, representing 13 different California schools from as south as San Diego and as north as Salinas, perform with the Westmont College Choir at the Fall Choral Festival Friday, Oct. 30. The evening concert at 7 p.m., which is free and open to the public, will be performed at First United Methodist.

The program opens with the Westmont Men’s and Women’s Chorales and includes cameo appearances by seven of the visiting high school choirs and the Westmont Chamber Singers. The Westmont College Choir will be the featured choir on the evening, offering a program that includes works by contemporary American and Korean composers, as well as a double-choir motet of Johann Ludwig Bach. A different set of high school choirs, along with the Westmont ensembles, perform a parallel concert at Trinity Episcopal Church, also at 7 p.m.

At a workshop before the performance, the high school singers will hone their repertoires with Westmont choral directors and Nathan Kreitzer, director of Santa Barbara City College’s Quire of Voyces.

The high schools include: Mira Costa, Salinas, Kern, Pasadena, Vista Murietta, Golden West, The Thacher School, San Marcos, Royal, Woodcrest Christian, El Camino, Palos Verdes and Cabrillo.

“This is a unique opportunity for high school singers to work with college professors and get to perform in the evening,” says Michael Shasberger, Westmont’s Adams professor of music and worship and the coordinator of the choral festival.

The festival is co-sponsored by Westmont and SBCC’s Quire of Voyces.

For more information, contact Helen Park in the music department at (805) 5656040 or hpark@westmont.edu.