Twenty-one area students were selected for the Missouri Youth Honor Choirs which will be held on July 22 in Jefferson City and are sponsored by the Missouri Choral Directors Association. Singers submitted individual recorded auditions which included vocalizing, a cappella singing and for some levels, a prepared solo. Selected singers will rehearse with nationally-known directors and present concerts on the opening day of the choral directors’ summer convention.
Marianna Parnas-Simpson will be the director of the Missouri Youth 5-6 Honor Choir. Parnas founded the St. Petersburg Girls Choir in Russia before coming to the United States. She is currently teaching in Houston, texas where she has worked with the Houston Children’s Chorus and the American Boy Choir program in Princeton, N.J. Students selected for this choir are: Samantha Abel, soprano; Austin Andrews, alto; Morgan Edwards, alto; Makenzie Ficken, soprano; Michaela Lenz, soprano; Brett McNeal, soprano; and Peyton Woodhurst, soprano.
Marcia Patton, director of the Casper Wyoming Children’s Chorale, will be the director of the Missouri Youth 7-8 Honor Choir. Students selected for this choir are: Frankie Vollrath, soprano; Breanna Worthington, soprano; Gabriella LaMoore, alto; Jay Spencer, tenor; Jakob McKandles, tenor; and Ian Pond, bass.
Shawn Bell, director of Choirs at Permian High School in Odessa, Texas will be the director of the Missouri Youth 9-10 Honor Choir. Students selected for this choir are: Talia Tsapelas, soprano; Elizabeth Rodman, soprano; Chelsea Dreyer, soprano; Andrea Tutin, soprano; Amber Sartain, alto; Hannah Litwiller, alto; Caleb James, bass; and Levi Gerke, bass.
