2008 Holiday Idol Entry
Youth Chorale of Iowa Youth Chorus
"Children Go Where I Send Thee"
Website: www.iowayouthchorus.org Choir Director: Kristen Stanton Charity: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Iowa Youth Chorus is home to over two hundred singers from across Central Iowa and serves students from first grade through 12th grade who participate in one of five different level choirs. The students range in age from six to 18 and meet weekly at one of six locations for rehearsals. As advocates of the performing arts, the Iowa Youth Chorus partners with local and global communities through festivals, workshops, rehearsals, activities and concerts.
Iowa Youth Chorus has been involved in numerous choral festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Iowa Youth Chorus choirs have worked together with many international clinicians such as Karmina Silec, Kari Alla Polanen, Erkki Pohjola, Ablerto Grau, Maria Guinand, Fred Sjoberg, Weston Noble, and Anne Howard Jones. The Iowa Youth Chorus established its international reputation in 1992 by winning 1st place in the Children’s Division of the prestigious Kathaumixw International Choral Festival in British Columbia.
Youth Chorale is the international touring choir of the Iowa Youth Chorus. It consists of 37 well-trained mixed voices that perform repertoire from all periods, geographical areas and styles for mixed, female and male voices. Youth Chorale has performed with international opera star Simon Estes and with the Des Moines Symphony, most recently performing Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings Symphonic Suite. Youth Chorale often joins forces with university choral groups and community choirs and performs for concert series, government functions and civic group meetings as well as presenting educational outreach “informances” in Central Iowa schools.
In 2004 Youth Chorale participated in the Choir Olympics in Bremen, Germany, where they were awarded two silver medals in the categories of Mixed Youth Choirs and Musica Sacra A Cappella. Youth Chorale’s 2005 tour of Guatemala and El Salvador was a cultural immersion tour, teaming up with two of the top Central American choral organizations for a ten-day adventure of music, culture and day-to-day living experiences. In 2006, Youth Chorale participated in the Niagra International Music Festival in the Niagra region of Canada. The choir was involved in intense rehearsals and a massed choir performance under the direction of Francisco Nunez, artistic director of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. The 2007 tour took Youth Chorale to Great Britain to participate in the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod in Wales.
Youth Chorale is conducted by Kristen Stanton and accompanied by Lois Harms.
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