18th Annual First Coast Honors Choir Festival
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Location:
Riverside Park United Methodist Church
819 Park St, Jacksonville, FL 32204
Times:
Check-in at 9:30-10:00am
Rehearsals start at 10:00am
Virtual Performance begins at 4:00pm
The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus's (JCC) one-day event to honor local students who have been recognized by their music educators for their singing ability, musical aptitude and strong work ethic. The children spend the day rehearsing with a nationally recognized clinician and conductor. The event culminates in a performance of the newly-formed Honors Choir.
Each ensemble is limited to 80 singers. A music teacher referral is required to participate.
High School Women's Ensemble
Guest Conductor
Robyn Reeves Lana
Founder, Managing Artistic Director and Conductor, Cincinnati Youth Choir
Participation Fee is $40 (Festival Shirt included)
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About Ms. Lana
Interpreting choral music for diverse audiences in a way that is relevant to young people while maintaining the highest standards of music education and performance sums up the work of Robyn Reeves Lana
When not leading the Cincinnati Youth Choir, Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, over the last quarter of a century, Mrs. Lana has served as conductor and clinician across the United States and at internationally acclaimed venues such as The Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing), The World Expo (Milan), St. Peter’s Basilica (Vatican City), Minatomirai Hall (Yokohama). Internationally she has served as a clinician in Malacca, Malaysia; Singapore; Italy; Ireland; and China. Closer to home, she has been a featured guest conductor at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Cincinnati’s Music Hall. She has served as clinician or guest conducted state and regional choral events in over 25 states. Lana has served on the choral faculty at Xavier University and has been a guest professor in the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s choral department.
Lana is the editor of a choral series with Santa Barbara Music Publishing. Her book, Voices in Harmony, published in 2017, is a collaborative effort that celebrates many successful philosophies in choral education. She also is also published in Chorister Guild’s The Chorister, Chamber Music America’s CMA Matters, and ACDA’s Choral Journal for which she also served as guest editor of the of three issues.
Achieving an extensive list of orchestral and operatic repertoire for children and praise from collaborating conductors including Craig Hella Johnson, John Adams, Louis Langrée, John Morris Russell, Robert Porco, Marcus Huber, James Conlon, Earl Rivers and Mark Gibson among others, Lana regularly prepares her choirs for collaborations with the Cincinnati Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, the Cincinnati May Festival, Cincinnati Opera, and CCM choirs and orchestras. She prepared CYC for two Telarc label recordings with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under the direction of the late Maestro Erich Kunzel.
Nationally, Lana has served ACDA as Children’s Choir and Community Youth Repertoire and Standards Chair and currently is the Co-Chair for ACDA Advocacy and Collaboration. She is also honored to serve on the Chorus America Board of Directors.
Robyn Reeves Lana earned her bachelor and master of degrees in Music Education with a Cognate in Voice and a concentration in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She holds Level III Orff-Schulwerk Certification and has done focused study on children’s choirs at Butler University with Henry Leck.
Ms. Lana’s work has earned many awards including CCM’s Distinguished Alumna Award (2012), a gold medal in the World Choir Games (2012) placing first in the United States, the American Prize for Choral Performance (2015), the Chorus America ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming (2016), Chorus America Award for Education and Community Engagement (2018), and Cincinnati CityBeat’s Best Local Vocal Arts Group (2015 and 2017). Most recently she was celebrated in the book Imagineers • Impresarios • Inventors: Cincinnati’s Arts and the POWER OF HER which tells the inspiring stories of the formidable influence of women in the arts throughout Cincinnati’s dynamic history.
Unchanged Treble Voices | Grades 4-8
Guest Conductor
Barbara Sletto
Founder and Artistic Program Director, Heartland Youth Choir
Participation Fee is $40 (Festival Shirt included)
REGISTER NOW
About Ms. Sletto
Barbara Sletto founded Heartland Youth Choir in 2003. Prior to that she was the Artistic Director of the Iowa Youth Chorus, the Des Moines Children's Choruses, the Anderson Area Children's Choir of Anderson, Indiana, and the Lakes Treble Choir of Minnesota.
As a specialist in the voices of youth, Barbara frequently serves as a guest conductor for high school and elementary festival choirs and all-state honor choirs. Under her direction, choirs have performed for national and regional conferences in Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.
In addition, Barbara has guest conducted at various summer choir camps throughout the United States, including the International Music Camp, the Wisconsin Summer Music Clinic, the Indiana Choral Director's Summer Music Institute, the Virginia Kodály Summer Music Camp, the Drake School of Music Summer Camp, the Heartland Choral Camp, and the International Music Institute.
Barbara has a Masters of Arts in Music Education degree with a Kodály emphasis from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is also trained in Orff and Dalcroze methodology. She is a frequent clinician for music educators throughout the United States.
Barbara has fulfilled twelve commissioned works for treble choirs including commissions for Iowa and Indiana All-State choirs. Her compositions are published with Plymouth Music Company, Colla Voce Publishing, and Alliance Publishing Company.
Sponsored by:
The JCC was founded in 1995 at Jacksonville University to fill a need for a children’s music program in the area. Led by Dr. Frances B. Kinne, then Jacksonville University President, the plan to create a local choir was implemented by Dr. Jon O. Carlson and Jim Taylor, who served as the first conductor. In that first year, JCC had only 16 voices. Since then, it has grown to serve as many as 1,000 singers annually with performance choirs and outreach programs. From 16 singers in 1995, JCC has developed into one of the nation's most important providers of music education, enriching the lives of singers and audiences around the globe.
Contact Information:
Honors Choir Performance Coordinator:
Dorothy Leitch, Email
Phone: 904.353.1636, ext. 6