RUSSELL — Michael Davidson, Russell High School vocal music instructor, this week announced the upcoming NCAA League Choir Workshop and Concert Monday, Nov. 24. Russell High School is hosting the annual workshop and concert for the first time in seven years.
Each high school music department in the North Central Activities Association League is invited to bring up to twenty vocal students to the workshop. Students will gather at Ruppenthal Middle School in Russell Monday morning to attend the vocal clinic presented by Dr. Mariana Farah, Director of Choral Activities at the University of Kansas. Dr. Farah, with the assistance of accompanist Leanne Hillmer, will work with the mass choir on three pieces selected prior to the workshop. Students will arrive with some degree of familiarity with the music, but will work throughout the day to polish the works for the evening concert.
The NCAA League Choir Concert will be held at 7:00 pm, Monday evening at St. Mary’s Queen of Angels, 415 S Windsor Street in Russell. Attendees will enjoy three mass choir pieces, as well as one choral piece presented by each school. Mass choir selections include “Come to the Music”, words and music by Joseph M. Martin; “The First Nowell”, arranged by Mack Wilberg; and “O Filii et Filiae”, by Volckmar Leisring. There is no charge for admission.
Clinician Dr. Mariana Farah is the Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Kansas, where she teaches courses in graduate choral literature and conducting, directs the KU Concert Choir and Women’s Chorale, and helps oversee all aspects of the choral program. Born in Brazil, Farah received her Bachelor of Music from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas. She came to the US in 2000 to study at the University of Iowa, where she received her master’s degree in choral conducting. In 2008, she completed her doctorate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Accompanist Leanne Hillmer received both her Bachelor and Masters degrees of music in piano performance from the University of Kansas. Hillmer taught at the Tanglewood Music Festival, and in 1974 was nominated by the Metropolitan Opera Board Chairman, Alton Peters, for a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship. She was the first American Musician to hold this fellowship. In 1995 she retired after 30 years as an opera coach and accompanist and moved home to Kansas. She has worked with the Russell and Ellsworth school systems and is currently working with students at Fort Hays State University.