The Lutheran Youth Choir of North America, founded in 2005 and directed by Philip Spencer, successfully held its first biennial Festival of Global Vocal Music in the Chicago area in August. This nine-day festival for high-school-age singers included 23 students from across the United States and 19 students from Germany who were invited to come to the US following the choir’s first Festival Of American Vocal Music in Mansfeld, Germany in 2011. During the festival, the choir rehearsed several hours each day and performed in Chicago, Glen Ellyn, Naperville, Joliet, and Lisle, Illinois, and in Davenport, Iowa; hosted a Gospel Music Workshop led by its Composer-In-Residence, Dr. Keith Hampton; participated in a Global Percussion Workshop led by Shelley May Hutchison; and introduced the German students to Chicago, the Mississippi River, and American baseball! The choir’s final Festival Concert was given at St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle for an audience of several hundred people, featured choral works in seven world languages, and included pieces by Bach, Mendelssohn, Jennings, Thomas, Spencer, and Hampton.
The next Festival of American Vocal Music will return to Germany’s Schloss Mansfeld, a restored 14th century castle overlooking Luther’s childhood village, in late July 2013. High school singers of all faith backgrounds are welcome to sing in the Lutheran Youth Choir of North America. Generous financial aid and the offer of a college scholarship are available to participants. For further information and 2013 application, go to www.lutheranyouthchoir.org.
http://www.lutheranyouthchoir.org
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