February 24th and 25th were two big days for the Junction City choral program. On Friday the 24th in Wichita, the Junction City Chamber Choir had the honor of performing at KMEA. KMEA is an audition opportunity, any choir in the state of Kansas submits a recording the year prior and then the top 3 choirs in Kansas, chosen by Kansas district choral leaders, get to come perform in the Century II. The Junction City choral program hasn’t been invited since 1985. They sang a collection of 7 songs, in 5 different languages. The song list included: Kang Ding King Ge, Four Slovak Folks songs, Vox Populi, Fresh and Fearless, Beau Soir, Glow, and Miniyama Nayo. Out of the song set they sang Chinese, Slovak, Latin, French, a non-sense language, and English. The performance was radiant and memorable for the choral members and audience members. Megan Berry, a 3 year Chamber Choir member said, “To be invited by KMEA was incredibly exciting and such a huge honor. It felt amazing to know that our choir was up there as one of the states top choirs, and that our talent was being recognized”.

Saturday, February 25th, was Kansas State Choir,  which was also a critical day for the program. Four Junction City High School students made state and there were two state alternates. Cameron Black (Tenor I), Jacob Childs (Bass 2), Jaedn Cooper (Alto 2), and Jaleel Dorval (Tenor 1) were the four state members. Beth Arneson and Nicholas Paradas were the two alternates. The state choir performed In Virtute Tua, Incantations, Luminesence, Fare Thee Well Love, Shout Glory, and Vision. They were conducted by Andrea Ramsay, the composer of two of their pieces, Luminesence and Vision. The four state choir members agreed that it was a life changing, special experience and agreed that working with Dr. Ramsay was a phenomenal experience. Within 2 and a half days, the state members had roughly 15-20 hours of rehearsal time with minimal breaks. They were rewarded with a fun free concert from the a capella group Street Corner Symphony, and got an hour the next day to meet them and ask the group questions. Jacob Childs, a 2 year Chamber Choir member and State Choir member said “My favorite part about State Choir was just being blown away by the talent of us all, the way we sounded was phenomenal. It had reminded me why I love music, and further deepened my want to be a music educator”.