News & Notes

MECCA graduates to perform in Rome; Fund-raising concert set for June 12

Hilary Ginther and Chris Jennings, both graduates of the Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy and currently students at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, have been selected to perform in a production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in Rome, Italy, this summer.

A fund-raising concert, featuring Ginther, will be held at the Paramount Center for the Arts, Bristol, Tenn., on Thursday, June 12. Donations will be accepted as admission. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Though both Ginther and Jennings received scholarships from the Operafestival di Roma, some of their expenses, including the cost of flying to Rome, were not included in those monies. Proceeds from the concert will go toward those expenses.

In addition to being students at the University of Southern Mississippi, Ginther and Jennings are members of the Mississippi State Opera Company. Both performed in Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" during the company's current season.

While members of the Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy, both Ginther and Jennings were selected through audition to participate several times in the Organization of American Kodaly Educators honors choirs. Jennings was chosen for a solo when the Organization of American Kodaly Educators conference was held in San Antonio. Ginther twice won to the state level of the Lions' Club Bland Contest. Both were students of Beth Perkinson McCoy, artistic director of the Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy.

The Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy is a non-profit organization, funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission, from which it received a $1,180 grant in 2007. Its purpose is to provide music education in the Kodaly method to children in grades 2 through 12 through various choirs. The Choristers, which are located in Greeneville, Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol, are open to second- and third-graders. The Greeneville and Johnson City Choristers are directed by Angelia Woody. The Kingsport Choristers are directed by Patty Denmark and the Bristol Choristers are directed by Valerie Pickard.

The East Tennessee Children's Choir is a treble choir open to children in fourth through eighth grade by audition. It is directed by Jane DeLoach Morison. The Highlands Youth Ensemble is a four-part choir open to youth in eighth through 12th grade by audition. It is directed by McCoy.

Hilary Ginther, a graduate of the Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy, will perform in Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in Rome, Italy, this summer. She will perform a fund-raising concert at 7 p.m., June 12 at the Paramount Center for the Arts, Bristol.

5/30/08

New Choristers Rehersal Location

Johnson City Choristers will begin rehearsing in our new location on March 11^th.  We'll be at Marvin's Chapel United Methodist on Boone's Creek Road on Tuesdays from 4:30 - 5:30.

4/30/08

Elvises and Elves

3/10/08

Valentine Cabaret!

2/4/08

Artistic Reflections II

PRESS RELEASE (for immediate publication)
First Presbyterian Church, Bristol, TN
701 Florida Ave.
423-764-7176
Contact Persons: Steve & Vicki Fey, Directors of Music Ministry
svfey@fpcbristol.org

On Sunday, February 10, at 3:00 p.m., the First Presbyterian Church of Bristol, Tennessee, the King College Performing and Visual Arts Department, and the Tri-Cities Composers Consortium join to present “Artistic Reflections II,” a program featuring new musical compositions inspired by artwork from the Neal and Alice Caldwell Art Collection of King College. This program has been underwritten in part by an Arts Builds Community grant provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission. Artistic Reflections II is a follow-up program to the “Artistic Reflections” held in 2004, which featured artwork of the Bristol Art Guild inspired by new compositions.

The King/Caldwell Collection is one of the most extensive in the southeast with works by Rembrandt, Toulouse-Latrec, Picasso, Whistler, Dali and many others. Members of the Tri-Cities Composers Consortium have selected works from this collection and used them as the inspiration for new compositions. Among the composers whose works will be featured will be Evelyn Pursley-Kopitzke, Beth McCoy, Ann Holler, Robert Greene and Jane Perry; among the performers will be the King College Symphonic Choir, the East Tennessee Children’s Chorus, the Sanctuary Choir of First Presbyterian Church, soprano Rachel Barker, organist Robert Greene, pianist Vicki Fey, percussionist Alan Fey, baritone Mark Davis, clarinetist Gene Jones, flutist Judy Diez d’Aux and violinist Kellie Brown.

Dr. Pat Flannagan of King College will introduce each work with comments about the music and the accompanying artwork. As each of the musical compositions is performed, digital images of the artwork that served as the inspiration will be projected on a large screen. Following the program, the originals will be available for viewing in a display in the church’s fellowship hall. Refreshments will be provided by the Bristol Music Club.

The Arts Series of the First Presbyterian Church strives to share with the community events that enrich and inspire the life of the people of Bristol, share our unique and marvelous facilities, and encourage the artistically gifted of our region and beyond. Admission is a suggested donation of $10.00, $5.00 for students. The church is located at 701 Florida Avenue, just west of King College. For more information contact the church at 423-764-7176.

Open poster

1/30/08

Christmas Concerts

In addition, two barbershop-style singing groups will join the choirs of the MECCA to ring in the season at two concerts.

The first concert, “Candy Canes and Barber Poles,” will begin at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 2, at First Presbyterian Church, 701 Florida Ave., Bristol, Tenn.

It will feature the Highlands Youth Ensemble, under the direction of MECCA artistic director Beth Perkinson McCoy, with special guest Sound Management Barbershop Quartet.

This concert has a distinct international flavor. It will begin with “African Noel” and continue with the Slovak carol, “Carol of the Sheep Bells”; the Norwegian carol, “O Yule Full of Gladness”; the Spanish carol, “A La Nanita Nana”; and the Hungarian carol, “Angels From Heaven.”

Traditional songs, including “Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head,” “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” “O Holy Night,” “Carol of the Bells” and “The Christmas Song” will round out the HYE’s performance.

Sound Management Barbershop Quartet will sing a variety of traditional and novelty songs as well.

The East Tennessee Children’s Choir, under the direction of Jane DeLoach Morison, will perform “Candy Canes and Treat Pokes” at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 8 at at Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church, 136 E. Main St., Abingdon, Va.

Appalachian Carols such as “I Wonder as I Wander,” “Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head” and “Jesus the Christ is Born” will be presented along with works composed by McCoy as well as local composers Maria Niederberger and Kenton Coe.

Niederberger recently was selected for the 2007 Notable Woman Award at ETSU. The ETCC will perform her song, “Great Miracle,” which is part of a larger composition that was commissioned and performed by the Lucerne (Switzerland) Symphony Orchestra and Lucerne Kantorei at the New Year’s Concert on Jan. 1, 2000 for the dawn of the new millennium. A chamber group composed of musicians from the Symphony of the Mountains Youth Orchestra and Valerie Pickard, director of the Bristol Chorister group, will accompany the choir on this song.

To honor the late Dr. Carl King, who founded the ETCC in 1987, the group will perform one of his arrangements in this concert.

The concert also will celebrate the tradition among small Appalachian churches to provide treat pokes, or gift bags, to the children. Each child in the audience will receive a treat poke.

In the final area concert, the HYE and the ETCC will be joined by the newest addition to the MECCA, the Chorister Choirs in a concert at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 15, at Gray United Methodist Church, 2108 Oak St., Gray. The Hills Are Alive! Sweet Adelines female barbershop group will join the MECCA as special guest.

Songs and carols featured in the other two concerts will comprise this concert extravaganza.

Each of the three concerts also will include an audience sing-along.

Admission is a suggested donation of $5 per person.

In addition to these local concerts, both the HYE and the ETCC will perform at Biltmore Estate for its Candlelight Christmas Tours on Dec. 9 and Dec. 16, respectively. This is the fifth consecutive year, the two groups have been asked to perform at Biltmore.

The Mountain Empire Children’s Choral Academy is the region’s premier vocal music program for children in second through 12th grades.

It consists of Chorister Choirs for second- and third-graders, the East Tennessee Children’s Choir for fourth- through eighth-graders, and the Highlands Youth Ensemble for eighth- through 12th-graders.

The MECCA is under the artistic direction of Beth Perkinson McCoy, who also directs the HYE. Jane DeLoach Morison is director of the ETCC and accompanist for the HYE. Angee Woody is accompanist for the ETCC and director of the Johnson City and Greeneville Chorister Choirs. Valerie Pickard will direct the Bristol Choristers, and Patty Denmark will direct the Kingsport Choristers, when those groups form in early 2008.

For more information on the MECCA, visit www.meccacademy.org.

12/6/07

BILTMORE 2007

December 16, 2:00-8:30

Singers, Read, read, and re-read!

* You will be given a complimentary ticket at our rehearsal on Dec. 10 to enter the House on Dec. 16. If you lose your ticket, you will not get in at all. They are very strict.

* You may enter the House with your ticket anytime on the day of the 16th, but you will need to be with the choir no later than 4:30

* The ETCC will not necessarily travel to Biltmore in a group. Make arrangements with friends to carpool, or go on your own. Be at the House by 4:30 in concert attire. There is a bridge to the right of the entrance. At the end of this wooden bridge are the restrooms and a warm-up room for us. This is where you must be at 4:30.

* Parent tickets: If you are going to Biltmore you must have a ticket with the “time” you can enter the House. Our singing times are 5:50, 6:50 and 7:50. We should finish our last concert by 8:15 and be back in the room by 8:25. Pick up your singer there. Tickets are: one price for a Candlelight tour – at a specific time – and a Grounds tour; and another price if you want a Candlelight tour – at a specific time – a Grounds tour and also entrance to the house anytime during that day. Your performing child’s ticket is complimentary. Call BILTMORE ASAP to purchase your tickets: 1-800-298-2895

* Dee Minutolo, Mary Renner, and Suzy Pinyard will go as chaperones. If you have any questions please ask them. At 2:15 the chaperones will take the children through the House for the tour. They will be back at the bridge area by 4:15. If your child will not be accompanied by you and they want to see the House they must be at the front of the House by 2:05.

* Remember: you represent East Tennessee Children’s Choir, so be on your best behavior at all times, and be respectful to those around you. NO RUNNING! We want to be invited back! 

click here to download the original word document.
This document includes the names of the Singers and alternates.

11/15/07

The Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy has begun its third decade of providing premier vocal music instruction and performance opportunities by expanding those opportunities to younger children, adding three new staff positions and creating a new logo that better reflects the new direction of the group.
In addition, the choirs of the MECCA will, during its fall concert season, perform from Bristol Motor Speedway to Biltmore and sing with barbershop music groups throughout the area.
The MECCA began its expansion at the end of the spring 2007 season when Jane DeLoach Morison was named the new director of the East Tennessee Children's Choir, a choir for fourth- through eighth-graders, which was established in 1987 by the late Dr. Carl King. The choir had been directed for 13 years by Beth Perkinson McCoy, who remains as artistic director of the MECCA and as director of the Highlands Youth Ensemble, which spun off from the ETCC in 2003 as choir for high school-age students. This year, the MECCA added Choristers, choirs for children in first through third grade, and named Angee Woody and Valerie Pickard to direct them. Currently two Choristers groups are rehearsing in Johnson City and in Greeneville. Other Choristers may be established in Bristol, Kingsport and Abingdon in early 2008. For more information about registering a first- through third-grader for the Choristers, call (423) 791-2859 or (423) 968-4039 or e-mail angeewoody@earthlink.net, musicma2@yahoo.com or bpmccoy@naxs.net.
To reflect all the changes going on in the MECCA organization, the MECCA board of directors decided it was time to have a logo that reflected the organization's spirit. Kelly Gardner, a student at East Tennessee State University and a graduate of Dobyns-Bennett High School who was involved in the chorus there, designed the logo, which features the MECCA acronym on a music staff, with the E, both C's and the A positioned on the staff in the same place the E, C and A notes are on the treble clef. In addition, at the suggestion of MECCA administrative assistant Nancy Hopson, the board changed the ETCC's and HYE's informal concert attire. Now, the ETCC members wear turquoise polo shirts embroidered with the new MECCA logo in black, and the HYE members wear black polo shirts with the logo embroidered in gold.
The new look debuted at the MECCA's first performance of the season on Sept. 22, when both the ETCC and the HYE performed the National Anthem at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The fall concert season continues on Oct. 27, when the HYE will present its second annual Halloween Cabaret at 7 p.m., at Theatre Bristol's ArtSpace on State Street in Bristol. This concert, which will feature several Broadway show tunes as well as an auction of Hallograms (specially prepared songs for sale), is a fund-raiser to help the MECCA sponsor a September 2008 visit to the United States by the Reformatus Kollegium Choir of Pecs, Hungary. The Reformatus Kollegium Choir played host to the HYE when it participated in the 20th International Chamber Choir Competition in Pecs in May 2007.
By early December, the choirs will move into a full Christmas concert season, featuring performances with two barbershop groups, one a male barbershop quartet and the other a female barbershop ensemble, as well as the first performance by the two Choristers groups.
The first Christmas concert will be held at 3 p.m., Dec. 2 when the HYE and Sound Management barbershop quartet perform "Candy Canes and Barber Poles" at First Presbyterian Church in Bristol, Tenn.
The ETCC will perform "Candy Canes and Treat Pokes" at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 8 at Sinking Springs Presbyterian Church in Abingdon, Va. The title of this concert refers to the tradition among small churches in southern Appalachian to provide gift bags, or "pokes," to all the children of the congregation. Gift bags will be handed out during this concert.
On Dec. 15, all the choirs of the MECCA will come together to perform "Candy Canes and Sleigh Bells" with the Sweet Adelines female barbershop ensemble. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m., at Gray United Methodist Church in Gray, Tenn.
Admission to all concerts is a $5 donation per person.
In addition to these concerts, the ETCC will sing during the Johnson City Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony at the Johnson City Public Library at 6:30 p.m., Dec. 3, and with the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., Dec. 5 at the Freedom Hall Civic Center.
On Dec. 9, the HYE will travel to Biltmore Estate to perform Christmas carols in the Winter Garden for the fourth consecutive year. The choir is scheduled to perform every other half hour from 5 to 10 p.m. The ETCC will follow the HYE in a performance at Biltmore from 5 to 9 p.m., Dec. 16. Admission to these performances requires the purchase of a ticket to Biltmore Estate's Candlelight Christmas Tours.

10/21/07

The best of Broadway will come to State Street this Halloween when the Mountain Empire Children’s Choral Academy’s Highlands Youth Ensemble presents its second annual Halloween Cabaret, a fund-raiser to help bring a youth choir from Hungary to the United States in 2008.
The cabaret, featuring the members of the HYE performing in duos and trios as well as with the full ensemble, will begin at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 27, at Theatre Bristol’s ArtSpace in the 500 block of State Street in Bristol, Tenn., near the Paramount Center for the Arts. Admission is a $5 donation per person.
"We so enjoyed the intimate setting the ArtSpace provides, we were glad to be able to return to it for this second Halloween Cabaret," said Beth Perkinson McCoy, artistic director of MECCA and director of the HYE. "This will be a fun concert, full of costumes and great music from current musicals as well as great ones of the past."
The show will feature "The Music of the Night" from "The Phantom of the Opera," "What Is This Feeling?" from "Wicked," "New Girl in Town" from "Hairspray," "Bring Him Home" from "Les Miserables" and "Summer Nights" from "Grease." In addition, the singers will provide a song auction, or Hallograms, in which audience members can bid to have a song, from a prepared list, sung to whomever he or she chooses. The evening will include a reception full of Halloween treats as well as some treats to purchase for the holiday. Children are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes to the Cabaret as there will be a special moment in the show just for them.
All proceeds from the event will go toward MECCA and the HYE’s sponsorship of a visit to the United States by the Reformatus Kollegium Choir of Pecs, Hungary, in September 2008.
In May 2007, the HYE was hosted by the Reformatus Kollegium Choir in Pecs. The HYE was invited by the choir’s director, Dr. Peter Hoppal, to compete in the 20th International Chamber Choir Competition, in exchange for the HYE's hosting the Reformatus Kollegium Choir in this country.
"We were treated royally by the choir in Pecs, and we hope to return the favor when they visit us next year," said McCoy. "Our Hungarian hosts were gracious and exceedingly generous: They housed our singers in their dormitory and fed them in their a cafeteria. They transported us throughout their region and took us to castles, churches and restaurants. We will desperately need the community’s support to make travel and admission to this region’s attractions possible. This is wonderful opportunity for our region to show its generous hospitality to visitors from around the world. It will also be an opportunity for our communities to hear choral singing par excellence as this youth choir comes from Pecs -- 'the city of choirs' -- and they will be singing several concerts in the Tri-Cities while they are here."
The Highlands Youth Ensemble was formed in 2003, when it spun off from the East Tennessee Children’s Choir, which was founded by the late Dr. Carl King in 1987. Both groups came under the umbrella of the Mountain Empire Children’s Choral Academy in 2006 when the MECCA was established. MECCA now also includes two Chorister Choirs, made up of first- through third-graders.
In addition to performing at the 20th International Chamber Choir Competition in Hungary, HYE members have performed at Bristol Motor Speedway, Biltmore Estate and Carnegie Hall. The auditioned group consists of 27 eighth- through 12th-graders from throughout Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee. It is accompanied by Jane DeLoach Morison.

10/21/07

OAKE 2007
Chicago

(click here for pictures)

MECCA names new director of East Tennessee Children's Choir

Jane DeLoach Morison is the new director of the East Tennessee Children's Choir beginning in August 2007

The Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy is growing, which means changes in the academy's leadership. Beth Perkinson McCoy, artistic director of the MECCA and director of the East Tennessee Children's Choir since 1994, announced in May that she will step down as director of the ETCC beginning in August 2007. Succeeding McCoy is Jane DeLoach Morison, who has served as accompanist for the MECCA for the last three years.

McCoy will continue as artistic director of the MECCA, conductor of the Highlands Youth Ensemble, coordinator of the Pecs Choir partnership, and will serve as a guide and resource assistant to the preparatory choir directors.

"For the MECCA to expand to our next level and be able also to host the Pecs [Hungary] choir in 2008, growth needs to occur," McCoy said in announcing the changes. "For us to add two to three preparatory choirs, we will need additional directors and accompanists. For us to host the Pecs Choir, we will need sponsorships, grants, collaborators, and a coordinator of the Pecs partnership. So, the time has come to share the baton."

In announcing Morison's appointment, McCoy said, "When Jane joined as accompanist of the ETCC three years ago, I sensed that she was the perfect person to take the ETCC to a new level of accomplishment. Jane has all the right qualifications, and she has proven over and over that she will be far better than I as the director of the ETCC."

The Pecs Choir partnership began in 2006 when Dr. Peter Hoppal, director of the Reform School Choir in Pecs, Hungary, invited the HYE to compete in the 20th International Chamber Choir Competition. In May 2007, 14 members of the HYE along with McCoy and several parent chaperones traveled to Pecs, stayed with the Reform School Choir choir for four days and competed in the competition. To reciprocate, the HYE will play host to the Hungarian choir members when they will travel to Virginia and Tennessee in 2008.

The preparatory choirs will consist of second- and third-graders in smaller choirs located in cities throughout Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, as directors and accompanists become available. The goal is to have these choirs serve as preparation for audition into the East Tennessee Children's Choir.

Morison graduated summa cum laude from East Tennessee State University with a bachelor's degree in music education and and received a master of music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has also studied at L'academie de musique de Sion in Switzerland where she performed at the Tibor Varga Festival and the Foundation Pierre Gianadda.

Morison studied choral conducting with Thomas Jenrette and was a piano student of Donald Conflenti at ETSU. The recipient of a four-year performance scholarship, she was twice named Most Outstanding Music Student. A member of the Delta Omicron music fraternity she was also named to the academic honor society of Phi Kappa Phi. She studied with Joseph DiPiazza at UNC-Greensboro, where she was inducted into the musical honor society of Pi Kappa Lambda. She also has studied with Barbara Lister-Sink and Clifton Matthews.

For nine years, Morison was on the faculty of the Southern Park Music School in Charlotte, N.C. While living in Charlotte, she also taught at Central Piedmont Community College, was a guest lecturer at Winthrop University, and twice served on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro summer music camp.

While a member of the North Carolina Music Teachers Association, Morison was awarded the Certificate of Professional Advancement. She also holds permanent national certification with the Music Teachers National Association. She served as president of the Charlotte Piano Teachers Forum and held the office of state secretary for NCMTA.

This summer, Morison was again on the faculty at the Music in the Mountains Suzuki Institute at Emory & Henry College where she has in the past five years served as accompanist as well as instructor in music theory, and music and movement.

A licensed Kindermusik teacher for the past 11 years, she has been the director of the School of Music at Sullins Academy in Bristol since 2001, and has taught piano and Kindermusik there since 2000.

Before her tenure at Sullins Academy, she taught at St. Anne's Catholic School in Bristol, where in addition to teaching general music, piano and Kindermusik, she directed and wrote semi-annual concerts. In her first year there she also directed the middle school in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

A member of the Organization of American Kod·ly Educators and Music Teachers National Association, Morison and her family are members of Central Presbyterian Church in Bristol, Va., where she has served as the director of children's choirs.

Morison will step down as accompanist for the ETCC. Angee Woody will succeed her in that role. Morison will continue as accompanist for the HYE.

The ETCC was formed by Dr. Carl D. King in 1987. It was his dream to instill in children a love of music from a variety of cultures. Later, the ETCC was further developed by Laura Ann Warner, former president of the ETCC board of directors, and McCoy.

McCoy holds a master's degree in music education from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University and is a published author and composer. She is a diaconal minister of music in the United Methodist Church and teaches private piano and voice lessons.

In 2000, she received the Conductor's Award from the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra and in 2001, Composer of the Year Award from the Appalachian Music Teachers Association.

The HYE was formed in 2003, and the MECCA was established as a non-profit organization encompassing both the ETCC and HYE in 2006. For more information, please visit www.meccacademy.org.

Children, youth able to join premier choral music education group ---- news release -- July, 2007

 

Children and youth in grades 4 through 12 have the opportunity to join the region's premier organization for choral music education during fall auditions.

The Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy will hold auditions for the East Tennessee Children's Choir and the Highlands Youth Ensemble on August 20, 2007. Each year both groups perform several concerts throughout Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, and both groups have been invited for four consecutive years to perform at Biltmore Estate in December during its Christmas Candlelight Tours.

In addition, several members of both the ETCC and HYE are chosen each year to participate in honors choirs of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators (OAKE), of which MECCA's artistic director, Beth Perkinson McCoy, is a member. Further, members of the HYE have been selected to perform in a choir at Carnegie Hall, and the group sang  in the 20th International Chamber Choir Competition in Pecs, Hungary, in May 2007.

Auditions for the East Tennessee Children's Choir will be held from 4 to 6 p.m., Monday, August 20, 2007 at Central Baptist Church, Roan Street, Johnson City. The ETCC, a treble choir, is open to rising fourth- through seventh-graders. No preparation for the audition, which will take about 30 minutes, is necessary. Rehearsals for the ETCC are held from 4 to 5:45 p.m., on Mondays throughout the school year, beginning Aug. 27. A semester fee of $110 will be due by Sept. 24.

Auditions for the Highlands Youth Ensemble will be held by appointment the evening of Monday, August 20 at a location to be announced. The HYE, a choir made up of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, is open to rising eighth- through 12th-graders. HYE rehearsals are held from 7:30 to 9 p.m., on Mondays throughout the school year, beginning Aug. 27. A semester fee of $110 will be due by Sept. 24. For details about the audition or to schedule an appointment, e-mail Beth McCoy at director@meccacademy.org or call (276) 628-9967.

For more information, call (423) 360-3201.

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Published monthly by                                                                                                                                 Volume 14, Number 7 — July 2007

MECCA Singers enchant Audiences from Abingdon to Hungary

In May, 14 members of the Highlands Youth Ensemble traveled to Pecs, Hungary, to compete in the 20th International Chamber Choir Competition.
Additional photos below »

Members of the Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy have continued to sing and enchant audiences from Abingdon to Hungary this summer.

In May, 14 members of the Highlands Youth Ensemble traveled to Pecs, Hungary, to compete in the 20th International Chamber Choir Competition.
The HYE was invited to the competition in 2006 by Dr. Peter Hoppal, director of the Reform School Choir in the city of Pecs, which is located southwest of Budapest. For four days in late May, the members of the HYE were hosted by members of the Reform School Choir, living in the school dorms, visiting sites in and around the city, and competing over the course of three days.

Though the choir did not win any awards, they did win the hearts of the Hungarian people and audience members from other countries, and received ovations at their concert performances. Among the judges' comments were:

• "A very enthusiastic, lovable ensemble."

• "Very good voice qualities, a 'youthful' sound and singers who pay who close attentions to the director's intentions!"

• "We welcomed this chorus with joy on this occasion, for with their program they added more color. They enriched the palette of the festival."

The HYE members who traveled to Hungary included Tyler Berrier of Johnson City; Sarah Compton of Johnson City; Luke Dotson of Meadowview, Va.; Ryan Dowling Soka of Bristol, Tenn.; Benjamin Loy of Johnson City; Emily May of Elizabethton; Will McConnell of Johnson City; Johnny Dreyzehner of Abingdon, Va.; Ramsey Gross of Johnson City; Rachel Grunstra and Grace Grunstra of Bristol, Va.; Steven Mott of Bristol, Tenn.; Florenica Rusinol of Johnson City; and Bianca Whitlock of Kingsport.

Following the competition in Pecs, the students also traveled to Budapest for a few days of sightseeing.

The trip to Hungary was made possible by the generous donations of many in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, including those who contributed funds at two cabaret events the HYE presented in October and February.

To reciprocate for the opportunity to perform and travel in Hungary, the HYE will play host to members of the Reform School Choir in 2008. Fund-raisers to help pay for the Hungarian students' stay in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee will be held during the 2007-08 season.

Closer to home, five members of the MECCA, either through the East Tennessee Children's Choir or the HYE, were featured in Barter Theatre's production of Oliver! Portraying members of Fagin's gang in the production, which is playing at Barter through Aug. 18, are Joseph Brooks, Sarah Smith, Kurtis Gross, Gretchen Gross and Rachel Boyd.

James Hollingsworth, resident musical director for Barter Theatre, worked with the children for Oliver! "They learn music quickly, have excellent pitch and a professionalism about them not usually found in children," he said. "I was worried about working with them in the recording studio, but they rose to the challenge and recorded their parts faster than the adults. I believe good music education is extremely important for our youth. I'm sure [these] students will look back some day and realize the lasting impact the MECCA program had on them."


 

 

Closer to home, five members of the MECCA, either through the East Tennessee Children's Choir or the HYE, were featured in Barter Theatre's production of Oliver!

 

Eleven members of the Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy were named to honors choirs by the Organization of American Kodaly Educators. They will travel to Chicago later this month to perform under the direction of acclaimed choral directors in a series of concerts during the OAKE National Conference.

Adam	Amanda	Annie	Avery	Ben
Grace	Heidi	Johnny	Katelyn	Ramsey
Taylor