Music Celebrations is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Craig Jessop as Artistic Director of the 2011 National Memorial Day Choral Festival over Memorial Day Weekend in Washington, D.C.’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

I want to express my thanks and appreciation for a wonderful festival experience. Your company has been the best I have ever worked with! The photo slide show is terrific. This is a festival I would recommend be on our schedule on a 4-year rotation. I am trying to develop some “traditions” and this is one of them!

Diane Stallings
Savannah Arts Academy

Thursday, May 28, 2009
By Rita Michel

Shaler Area High School Titan Marching Band joined nearly 200 other units from across the country in marching past the White House in the 2009 National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C., Monday.

Representing Western Pennsylvania were 160 Shaler Area musicians, majorettes, color guard and dance team members. They joined national military bands, active military and specialty units, floats, other marching bands and veterans of conflicts from World War II through Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The parade marked the first time in more than 10 years a district marching band had participated in a national event. “This was a huge honor for us and our school district,” said George Tepshich, director of the band for the past three years.

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Amazing, amazing trip. Everything was so well organized. The kids adored Dr. Stroope. Sarah and George were the best tour guide and bus driver we’ve ever had.

Thank you for everything you did in making our trip a success. I can’t wait to share the trip with my friends.

Heather Copley
Apex High School Choral Department

Chorale group of 80 students will sing backdrop for Lee Greenwood during parade telecast on PBS
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

Eighty Royal High School students are in Washington, D.C., this weekend after their chorale group was chosen one of the premier in the country.

The group auditioned a year ago and learned in June 2008 they would represent California in the National Memorial Day Chorale Festival at the JFK Center of Performing Arts.

Only eight groups in the United States were chosen.

“At first, when we were talking about a tour for this year, we didn’t know where we were going,” said senior Akayla Kohlieber. “When our director, (Bonnie) Graeve told us we were going to D.C., everyone just gasped. We were so excited.”

The students have performed at many prestigious venues, including Disney Hall, Carnegie Hall two years ago and Orchestra Hall in Chicago four years ago. They’ve auditioned before, but this is the first year Royal was chosen for the national event.

The group is made up of students from five chorale groups at Royal: the jazz ensemble, women’s ensemble, vocal ensemble, chamber singers and concert choir.

Senior Megan Switzler and sophomore Erica Ruiz have been singing for most of their lives.

“I’m not overwhelmed, but I’m really excited,” Ruiz said. “It’s so great that we get to share our talents with the rest of the country. Some of us have worked all our lives to get to this level, and being invited makes us feel that we worked hard and we are appreciated for it.”

The Royal students left Thursday and will return late Monday.

They will give their main concert Sunday afternoon, and they’ll also perform at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the church on the Catholic University of America campus.

All eight chorale groups invited were also asked by country music singer Lee Greenwood to sing backup for him when he performs “God Bless the USA” in the National Memorial Day Parade Monday. The parade will be broadcast on PBS.

While in the nation’s capital, the students will tour the White House and the Capitol building, and they’ll visit other sights, like Arlington Cemetery and Georgetown University.

“I’m always extremely proud of my students,” said director Graeve. “They work very hard, and they sound great. They are just the best. It’s an A-plus program and an A-plus class.”

Debbie Bartholomew, a parent assistant to the chorale program, said the year of preparation has been remarkable.

“Mrs. Graeve has really gone above and beyond on this,” Bartholomew said. “And the students have been amazing. They have 12 pieces of music to learn and they’ve done it. It sounds wonderful.”

By Bobwilson | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Friday, September 19, 2008

Z. Randall Stroope, a renowned conductor and composer, digs the voices of choir members at Lubbock High School.

Stroope listened to three recordings of the choir’s performances, and then selected the group to perform in the 2009 National Memorial Day Choral Festival in Washington, D.C., which Stroope will conduct. The Texas Music Educators Association recommended Lubbock High, said Dan Schwartz, a spokesman for the concert operate, Music Celebrations International.

Only seven choirs out of a nationwide pool of 100 earned Stroope’s approval to sing in the festival, Schwartz said. Lubbock High is the only choir from Texas. The others come from California, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Utah.

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Carolyn Hope Parker • June 11, 2008

Twenty-five members of The Tallahassee Community Chorus arrived home weary but exhilarated May 26 from a Memorial Day performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Under the direction of Florida State University’s own Andre Thomas — internationally renowned composer, choral director and professor — and accompanied by The Eastern Wind Symphony, the program included Randall Thompson’s arrangement of Thomas Jefferson’s “Testament of Freedom” and other patriotic works. Special guests included 2008 Miss America Kristen Haglund and Mickey Rooney.

By Tim O’Neil
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/09/2008

Once there were 4.7 million doughboys, the jaunty youngsters in American uniform during World War I. Now there is only Cpl. Frank Woodruff Buckles, born on a farm in Missouri more than 107 years ago.

Buckles, of Charles Town, W.Va., is planning a return to Missouri for the Memorial Day weekend ceremonies at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City.

The memorial, overlooking downtown, was dedicated to the Great War in 1921. It expanded two years ago to include the National World War I Museum.

Buckles was born on Feb. 1, 1901, near Bethany in northwestern Missouri. His family moved to Oklahoma when he was 15. One year later, he lied about his age to enlist in the Army and made it to France during the war as an ambulance driver.

In February, he became the last doughboy after another Missouri native, Harry Landis, died in Florida at age 108. Landis had grown up on a farm north of Hannibal.

The last French veteran of World War I died in March. Germany’s last veteran of that war died in January. Only about a dozen veterans worldwide are known to be alive.

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MCI is pleased to announce that the annual National Memorial Day Choral Festival is officially recognized by the White House Commission on Remembrance. Music Celebrations is honored to have this event recognized. The goal of the National Memorial Day Choral Festival is identical to the purpose of the White House Commission on Remembrance -
“educating this and future generations of Americans to remember the sacrifices and costs in human life made to preserve our liberties, and to instill in them an understanding of what it means to be an American.”