Children's choir honored again

The Salt Lake Children's Choir has once again been honored by being accepted to perform at this year's American Choral Directors Association western-division convention. This will mark the fifth time the choir has had the distinction of taking part at the association's Western convention, which includes directors and choirs from Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and Hawaii.

The convention, which this year takes place in Las Vegas, runs Thursday through Saturday. The Salt Lake Children's Choir will sing at the opening session.

Choir founder and director Ralph B. Woodward is looking forward to taking his group to Las Vegas. "This is a pretty big event. You have choral directors coming from throughout the western division to get energized and revitalized. You're singing to a highly discerning but also appreciative audience, which makes performing for them so rewarding."

Woodward said that it's not easy for a choir to get accepted to perform at one of the conventions. "The association has rigid requirements for choirs wanting to participate." In addition to submitting a performance tape from the current year, the choir must also send in tapes from the preceding two years. "They're looking for consistency."

Twenty choirs will be at the convention, including one other from Utah, the Woods Cross High School Madrigals, making its first appearance at an ACDA convention.

Woodward said there are some outstanding choirs among the groups that will be performing. "There are some very big groups coming — the Tucson Boys' Choir, which has an illustrious history; the University of Southern California Chamber Choir, which has won lots of competitions; and the Los Angeles Children's Choir."

The music Woodward has selected for his choir will include some of the pieces they'll sing at their spring concert in May in Libby Gardner Concert Hall. "It's a varied program that I'm pretty excited about, and it's all going to be sung a cappella." The program, which can't exceed 25 minutes in length, includes works by Palestrina, Kodaly and Pavel Chesnikov as well as folk songs, a spiritual and a Native American piece.

The children like to sing a large variety of works, said Woodward, so this program should appeal to them. "The kids like to be stretched. They like going in lots of different directions — that's why I look for stimulating repertoire."