UMO Hosts Successful High School Honor Choir Event
UMO Hosts Successful High School Honor Choir Event
MOUNT OLIVE- The University of Mount Olive (UMO) recently held a day-long high school Honor Choir. The event gave high school students from eastern North Carolina the opportunity to meet, rehearse, and perform with musicians from other schools and from UMO.
Participants included 23 high school student musicians from North Duplin Jr. and Sr. High School, Wayne Early and Middle College High School, Southern Wayne High School, and Rosewood High School. Also participating in the event from UMO were 39 Concert Choir members, Free Spirit, Chamber Choir, and UMO music faculty, including Dr. Carl Ashley, Dr. Bill Ford, Dr. Alan Armstrong, Dr. Franklin Gross, and Mr. David Leahey. Two directors attended the event as well, Jason Cox from Southern Wayne High School and Lisa West from Rosewood High School.
The event allowed the students to collaborate in workshops and to work alongside university musicians. In addition, Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, and Free Spirit all performed for the high school students, the parents, and the directors.
Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Carl Ashley noted, “This was a terrific opportunity for high school students to have a quality choral experience singing with college musicians. It is our hope that these students will discover what we in the University of Mount Olive Department of Music already know: that music at the University of Mount Olive is a fun, educational, and positive experience for everyone involved. As the director of the Honor Choir, it was a privilege to work with such talented student musicians!”
The University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The University, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Research Triangle Park, Washington, Jacksonville, and in Smithfield at Johnston Community College. For more information, visit old.umo.edu.
The Honor Choir participants along with UMO Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, and Free Spirit performed together at the close of the event.