35th Annual High School Choral Festival

Sunday, October 6th | 2:00 PM – Monday, October 7th, 2024 | 4:30 PM
NDSU Reineke Fine Arts Building

We are pleased to invite you to the 35th Annual NDSU High School Choral Festival which has be held on the first weekend of October for each of these years. The event will begin on Sunday, October 6 and and conclude on Monday, October 7, 2024. We look forward to this opportunity to work with your students and host you on our campus.

The festival’s registration will begin at 1:15 p.m. on Sunday, October 6 and will be followed by a concert featuring the NDSU Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers at 2 p.m. Joining us for the concert will be the Sheyenne High School Concert Choir conducted by Tony Peterson. Rehearsals will begin after the concert. The Choral Festival Concert is scheduled for Monday, October 7 at 4:30 p.m. Admission to both concerts is free.

We are extremely delighted to announce that the new Director of Choral Activities at NDSU is Dr. Dwight Jilek. Dr. Jilek is originally from Dickinson, ND. His undergraduate degree in vocal music education is from Concordia College. Dr. Jilek taught for six years at Northfield High School in Minnesota before completing his master’s degree in Choral Conducting at Michigan State University and his doctorate in Choral Conducting at the University of North Texas. 

We are excited to offer the following choirs for your students. The Tenor/Bass choir for 9th and 10th grade students will be conducted by Michael Weber; the Soprano/Alto choir for 9th and 10th grade students will be conducted by Charlette Moe. The auditioned Chamber Honor Choir for students in grades 11 & 12 will be conducted by Dwight Jilek. The mixed choir for 11th and 12th grade students will be conducted by Dr. Ryan Smit. Ryan is the Director of Choral Activities at Dordt College in Iowa. Ryan earned his doctorate in Choral Conducting from NDSU.

Auditions for the NDSU High School Honor Chamber Choir will be submitted online during the first week of school in the fall with a due date of September 11, 2024. Each student will submit an electronic file with the student singing a selection that represents their highest level of musicianship. Students should identify which part they are auditioning for, i.e. soprano or alto. Please send your files to Dwight.jilek@ndsu.edu. The size of the NDSU High School Honor Chamber Choir will be up to 36 voices. We will announce the selected singers on September 13, 2024.

All students will be expected to have their music learned prior to the festival so they can create a true musical experience and enjoy creating music with their peers. It will be the student’s responsibility to get the music and learn it before the first rehearsal. The ink for rehearsal tracks will be sent next week.

For the other festival choirs, each school may send one SATB quartet to the Mixed Choir and a balanced trio to the Soprano/Alto Choir and a balanced trio to the Tenor/Bass Choir. If you have any questions about participation, please do not hesitate to contact any of us. We will take registrations on a first-come basis. The registration fee for each student is $50, which includes a t-shirt, supper on Sunday night, and lunch on Monday. Choral directors will be the guests of the NDSU Challey School of Music.

The music to be performed in the festival choirs is as follows and is available through Popplers. Please note that there is a piece for the SA choir that you will purchase directly from the Graphite website and a piece for the Mixed Choir that is a free downloaded file.

Honor Chamber Choir – Auditioned Grades 11 & 12 – Dwight Jilek, conductor

Sanctus in d minor (BWV 239) — J. S. Bach — Alliance
Who Can Sail Without the Wind — arr. Ēriks Ešenvalds — Musica Baltica
Ngothando — Mbosu Ndlovu — Walton
Lead with Love — Melanie Demore — Mark Foster

Soprano/Alto Choir – Grades 9 & 10 – Charlette Moe, conductor

Lumen — Abbie Betinis — Graphite Publishing (purchase here)
Ten Thousand Miles  — Tom Porter — Alliance
The Open Hand — Susan LaBarr — Walton
Plena — Diana V. Saez — Roger Dean

Tenor/Bass Choir – Grades 9 & 10 – Michael Weber, conductor

Keep Your Lamps! — Victor C. Johnson — Heritage Music Press
Good Timber — Susan LaBarr — Walton
Earth Angel — Roger Emerson — Hal Leonard
Yonder Come Day — Podd Brothers — Podd Brothers Music

Mixed Choir – Grades 11 & 12 – Ryan Smit, conductor

Tshotsholoza — arr. Ames — Walton
A New Commandment — Tallis — CPDL (download for free here)
Afternoon on a Hill — Barnum — Walton
Johnny-O and Sally Anne! — arr. Berg — Santa Barbara

Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to working with your students at the 35th Annual NDSU Choral Festival!

Dwight Jilek, Director of Choral Activities Dwight.Jilek@ndsu.edu
Michael Weber, Associate Director of Choral Activities m.weber@ndsu.edu
Charlette Moe, Assistant Director of Choral Activities Charlette.moe@ndsu.edu