Local choir students perform at Missouri Western

By Ashley Luthans

Middle and high school students from around the St. Joseph area were given the opportunity to perform in the 10th annual Missouri Western State University honor choirs on Friday.

Over 250 students from 28 different schools were selected to perform in the choirs.

The high schoolers were directed by Missouri Western director of choral studies, Dr. Paul Dease.

Dr. McKenna Stenson, associate director of choral studies at the University of Kansas, was the guest conductor for the middle schoolers.

After a slight delay due to snowy conditions in the morning, students arrived at Missouri Western at 2 p.m. on Friday in order to learn the songs that they performed that night.

The middle school honor choir performed at 8 p.m., with the high school honor choir performing at 8:30 p.m.

After all of their hard work, the students were excited to perform for an audience.

Kbree Alvarez, a senior at Riverside High School, said she has enjoyed being a part of the honor choir for the first time.

“I think it’s a really big privilege because we’ve also been working really hard the last few weeks,” she said. “There’s five pieces we’ve been working on outside of here for the last few weeks, and then we come and spend eight hours of our day here also working all together with everybody else.”

Missouri Western will have several more events in the School of Fine Arts this semester, including art exhibits and the St. Joseph Area Music Teachers Association (SJAMTA) Monster Concert.