Mars Hill University / J. Elwood Roberts Choral Festival
FEBRUARY 5-6, 2016
ELENA SHARKOVA, GUEST CONDUCTOR
The 67th Annual J. Elwood Roberts--Mars Hill University Choral Festival held on the Mars Hill campus Feb. 6-7, 2015 was a huge success with Dr. Karen Kennedy of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami as guest conductor. The 330 high school students presented a stunning concert and left with a new appreciation and enthusiasm for choral music.
Plans are well underway for the 67th Festival to be held on February 5-6, 2016 with Russian born conductor Elena Sharkova, who is in her fourteenth year as Artistic Director of Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale, San Jose, California, as our guest conductor. Sharkova is one of
the most sought after clinicians in the US and world-wide. Approximately 335 auditioned high school singers from more than 100 high schools will participate in the Festival Choir. High School students enrolled in their school’s choral program during either term of the 2015-2016 school year are eligible to audition. Home schooled students taking private voice lessons are eligible providing the teacher
sponsors and prepares the student for the Festival. The closing concert will be on Saturday, February 6, 2016, beginning at 4:00. The University Choir and Chamber Singers will open the concert followed by a combined number with the college groups, high school directors, and the Festival Choir participating. The concert will close with the Festival Choir. There is no charge for admission.
The J. Elwood Roberts – Mars Hill University CHORAL FESTIVAL was established in 1949 by the late J. Elwood Roberts as an effort to improve choral music in the high schools of western North Carolina. While in the beginning the “clinic” was comprised of about fifteen schools in the closely-surrounding area, this annual event has grown into one of the premiere choral festivals in North Carolina and, as far as is known, is the longest, continuously-running festival of its type in the southeast and is unique for a private college in the US. Each year more than 700 students from approximately 100 high schools audition for the Festival Choir.
In the early years students were selected by their directors to sing in the choral clinic. Quite often, a double quartet from each high school would participate. As the event continued to grow, reaching a size of 400 non-auditioned singers, it was decided that a better format would be to reduce the size to approximately 325 voices and have the singers audition at selected high school sites. This practice was put into effect for the clinic of 1970. Auditions are held at various sites in October. After being selected, the singers prepare the music and attend one of seven zone rehearsals held in January. With the help of high school zone coordinators this practice has proven very effective.
Guest conductors have included some of the most prominent choral musicians in the United States. Auditions for the 2016 Festival will be held during the first and second weeks of October 2015. To request an audition or for more information email: choralfestival@mhu.edu.
J. Elwood Roberts came to Mars Hill College in 1944. He served the music department in several capacities, most notably as an instructor in music theory. He also directed the choir at Mars Hill Baptist Church. Mr. Roberts died in 1966 at the age of 52.