NORWICH – Members of Norwich High School’s Madrigal Singers had the honor of participating in the Hartwick Choral Festival at Hartwick College in Oneonta this past weekend.
According to the group’s director, Norwich High School vocal music teacher Mary Mayo, Norwich was invited to perform at the weekend-long event by the festival’s director, Dr. Jirka Kratochvil.
“This was the first time that high school groups were featured on the program,” said Mayo. “Being asked to perform was very motivating for [the] students.”
According to Mayo, the students selected for the Madrigal Singers represent the strongest singers of the Mixed Choir’s 61 voices. The group consists of 24 singers and eight alternates selected by audition, she explained. Much of the music the group performs is done a cappella, meaning without accompaniment.
Seventeen members of the group attended the choral festival with Mayo, the focus of which was Gospel singing. They selected an African-American spiritual, “Goin’ up to Glory,” as their performance piece.
“They were well received by the audience and the festival director,” Mayo reported. “It was an honor for their excellence to be recognized.”
Attending the choral festival gave students the opportunity to perform under the direction of a guest composer from Ohio State University, Dr. Raymond Wise.
Mayo, who had an opportunity to sing alongside her students at the festival, said the guest director was a “phenomenal teacher.”
“We performed five of his compositions with close to 200 singers,” she said. “It was the most fun any of us had had singing.”
The music moved those in the audience as well. “[They] were on their feet, stepping and clapping along with the choir.”
It was not the first time she had the opportunity to work with Wise. She and several students from the Madrigal Singers performed for him in Prague last summer as part of a Hartwick Choral Institute program held in the Czech Republic.
According to the group’s director, the Madrigal Singers earned the money to attend the Oneonta festival by selling cookie dough.
“[Being invited to the festival] is a tremendous reflection of the kids themselves and their abilities,” said High School Principal Dr. Bob Cleveland, “Their success can be directly attributed to the people teaching them, which in this case is Mary Mayo.”
The vocal music teacher’s commitment to her students “goes well beyond the normal expectations of educators,” said Cleveland.
The building principal also spoke about the program itself as representative of the quality programs the high school offers students.
“It extends beyond the four wall of the school into the greater community and illustrates the breadth and quality of activities available to kids in the Norwich School District,” he explained.
Community members will have the opportunity to hear the Madrigal Singers perform in Norwich next week in honor of Veterans’ Day. They will sing the national anthem at the ceremony, which will begin at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 at the East Park gazebo.