On Jan. 17, 2013, the Salt Lake Community College Chamber Singers will travel to Washington, D.C. to compete with over 200 other choirs in the Presidential Inauguration Heritage Music Festival.
The festival features three categories of participants – high school, college and community.
In addition to the competition, students will participate in a concert with SLCC Alumnus and Award Winning Musician Paul Cardall. They will also attend the inauguration of President Barak Obama and visit monuments and museums in the area.
“That will add an enormous amount of educational value,” said Lyle Archibald, director of choral activities.
The SLCC Chamber Singers will perform Eric Whitacre’s Lux Arumque, Antiphon by Ralph Vaughn Williams and Randall Thompson’s Choose Something Like a Star featuring words from Robert Frost’s poem of the same name at the competition.
Inaugural harmony
Archibald said that the songs were chosen as representative of what the SLCC Chamber Singers could do at a technical level as well as show a breadth of style.
“It’s the difference between intramurals and intercollegiate sports,” said Archibald. “You raise the level of the technique. You raise the level of education.”
The SLCC Chamber Singers will be judged on criteria that include technical skill, intonation and interpretation.
“It will benefit future students as far as the quality of the work we are doing,” said Archibald.
The SLCC Chamber Singers will receive higher quality invitations to participate in competitions and festivals because of the invitation to and participation in the Inauguration Choral Competition.
“It definitely will help us come together as a choir,” said Music Technology Major and Tenor Isaak Del Rio.
The concert with Cardall for SLCC alumni is scheduled to be performed at the Washington, D.C. Temple visitor’s center on Jan. 19, 2013. It will feature Americana, folk songs and spirituals.
“It’s pretty rare to be able to attend an inauguration”
Archibald expects students to come back with a greater appreciation of the United States and a better sense of history through the museum visits and the attendance of the inauguration.
“It’s pretty rare to be able to attend an inauguration,” said Archibald.
Jesse Atkin, media music major and baritone, is looking forward to “a great opportunity to experience something that I haven’t before and for the choir to get closer so that we work better together.”
Soprano Erica Elly Paul hopes to bring back connections and friendships, as well as culture, that she will be able to use during her time at SLCC.
A two-man documentary crew will accompany the SLCC Chamber Students to produce a 30 minute documentary and a promotional piece for the college.
Student Services, SLCC, the Dean of Arts and Communications, the Provost and the students have all contributed to the sponsoring of the trip.
