April 28, 2017

Children’s choir earns gold rating at festival

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois Children’s Choir, a community outreach program of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale School of Music, earned an exclusive “Gold” rating at the WorldStrides OnStage in St. Louis Festival. The festival is an educational program that brings young performers to major venues on American and international stages. 

The children’s choir, under the direction of Alice Berry and with piano accompaniment from Mike Arthur, performed at the Chaminade College Preparatory School in the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts Theater. The adjudicated festival includes performance critiques and awards. The Southern Illinois Children’s Choir (SICC) was the only group to receive “Gold.” It also earned the designation “Outstanding Choral Group” and was the only choir invited to perform at a 2018 WorldStrides “National Invitational Festival of Gold.” 

In addition to the group awards, Laney Wagner, an eighth-grader from Carterville Middle School, earned Maestro Award for outstanding singing. 

The SICC was the youngest choir in attendance at the festival. SICC includes children from second through eighth grades. The other choirs at the festival were high school students. Choirs from Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma attended the festival. 

SICC is part of the School of Music Community and Preparatory Program for the musical enrichment of area children and the enhancement of musical life in Southern Illinois. Children in the choir this year are from: Cambria, Campbell Hill, Carbondale, Carterville, Du Quoin, Makanda and Murphysboro.