Approximately 150 high school students, representing 15 different schools, will visit Lee’s campus Friday, Feb. 2, through Saturday, Feb. 3, to participate in Lee’s annual Honor Choir. The event will culminate with a performance on Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. in Lee’s Conn Center.
Recommended by their high school choral directors to represent their schools at the event, there will be a Men’s Choir conducted by Dr. William R. Green and a Women’s Choir conducted by Dr. Jonathan Rodgers. These choirs will combine to present two SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) choral pieces.
According to LuAnn Holden, organizer of Honor Choir and chairperson of Lee’s Department of Music Education, the students receive the SATB choral literature in advance, so they can arrive on campus knowing the pitches and rhythms. The conductors can then focus on the choral aspects of an artistic performance. The singers are given the choir music when they arrive for the event on Friday morning. The conductors introduce the music and lead them through a progressive learning sequence toward the culminating concert on Saturday.
“We enjoy getting to watch these students gather to experience the joy of making music together!” said Ms. Holden.
Both choirs will rehearse on Friday and Saturday in preparation for the final concert Saturday afternoon. They will perform a variety of styles of choral literature by composers such as David Brunner, Dan Forrest, and Karl Jenkins. The entire group will merge together at the end of the concert to form a mixed choir which will sing two pieces. The Lee University Choral Union and Lee University Chorale will also perform in the Honor Choir program.
“Lee Honor Choir was definitely one of my favorite experiences during my high school career so far,” said Katelyn Jackson, a student from Heritage High School who participated in Honor Choir 2017. “I got to visit a beautiful campus and perform some really inspiring and emotional pieces of music that I will always remember.”
Dr. Green is a professor of music at Lee and serves as dean of Lee’s School of Music. He conducts the Lee University Chorale and teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting. He is active nationally and internationally as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician and has presented workshops throughout the United States, as well as in Central America and Israel. In 2013, Dr. Green was privileged to conduct the Lee University Festival Choir at the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Rodgers is an assistant professor of choral music at Lee where he also directs the vocal ensemble Ladies of Lee. He teaches church music courses as well as a variety of other course offerings, including conducting. Dr. Rodgers is an active pianist, church musician, and arranger. His arrangements have been published with Walton Music and Colla Voce and performed by Mountain Brook and Hoover High Schools in Birmingham, Alabama, the University of Southern Mississippi Southern Chorale, and the Brigham Young University Women’s Chorus.
Saturday’s concert is a free, non-ticketed event, and open to the public.
For more information, contact Ms. Holden at (614-8259 or email lholden@leeuniversity.edu. For a fact sheet or registration form, visit http://www.leeuniversity.edu/academics/music/honor-choir/.